


The Prince and the Merman

by babygray



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Additional characters to be tagged later, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid, It's that sort of story, Krum is a shark, M/M, Sirius is a dog, Snape is a merman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-07 13:16:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3174700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babygray/pseuds/babygray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Snarry retelling of the Disney interpretation of the Hans Christian Andersen story.</p><p>The merman Severus has few friends. He had lost one years ago to the surface world, and the other was a shark. One night, however, he becomes obsessed with a human prince and soon after searches for a way to do Lily had done so easily: join the human world.</p><p>Someone, however, has very different plans. Will Severus be able to save Harry a second time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which there is a Ship

**Author's Note:**

> Disney music is to blame for this.
> 
> This was originally posted on ff.net under a different pseudonym for not!nefarious reasons. Unbeta-ed. Bits of dialogue comes from _The Little Mermaid_.

_In which there is a ship at sea, a shark, a merboy too nosey for his own good, a king with questions, a celebration, a great storm, and the warmth of a stranger, along with the aforementioned young prince and the mysterious merman..._

 

* * *

 

It was a perfect day to be at sea. The waves were easy-going and the dolphins were playful as they swam in the wake of the large sailing vessel. The sailors onboard were singing as they hauled in their catch, the mass of fish wriggling in panic inside the nets as they hit the deck.

Harry's grin was wide as he gripped the ropes, adding his weight and strength to that of the seasoned sailors beside him as he helped to haul in the catch. His black hair was sticky with the salt of the ocean and his nose was still red from the bright sun, but there was nothing that could break his joyous mood.

The sailor next to Harry laughed. "A fine strong wind and a following sea. The White King must be in a friendly-type mood!"

"The White King?" Harry asked.

"Why, King Albus, ruler of the merpeople, of course," a sailor two men away said. "Thought every good sailor knew about him," he said with a teasing wink.

"Merpeople?" said Percy, his voice weak, from the other side of the deck, his face green with nausea. "There is no such thing as merpeople. Harry, please, pay no attention to such," he sniffed, "nautical nonsense."

"It ain't nonsense, it's the truth!" cried the man next to Harry. "I'm tellin' you, there's more mysterious and frightful things in the ocean than you can imagine, so just shut your gob about things you don't understand."

Percy stared down at the man, his nose imperiously high, before the motion of the ship got the best of his stomach once more. He leaned over the side of the vessel, retching what little was left in him. The sailors laughed good-naturedly at his expense.

"Have you ever seen a mermaid?" Harry asked, his green eyes wide.

"If I had, I wouldn't be here, would I?" the sailor next to him said. "And you best not be wishin' to find yourself one anytime soon. They'll drag down into their depths and never let you go, mermaids." He gave the prince a leer. "Not that we'd let you go under without a fight, right boys!"

A hearty cheer rang from the sailors, making Prince Harry grin.

 

* * *

 

Fathoms below, where the world above was considered as mysterious and as dangerous as any of the sailor's wilder imaginings, a merman was exploring far from home.

The waters surrounding the shipwreck were dark and foreboding. The mast of the forgotten ship jutted up towards the surface, a thin, final cry of mercy against the ravages of the sea. The merman stared at the wreckage, his long, glossy black hair floating behind him, moving in raven waves in the current. One of his elegant white hands gripped the top ring of a forgotten anchor, his black fishtail lazily resting against the rusted iron. His eyes, as black and as bright as two polished pieces of jet, took in the sight, tracing the shape of it from bow to stern. His pale lips softened to what could only be classified as a smile as he patted the empty sack slung over his shoulder.

"What a beauty you must have been," the merman, Severus, said softly as he swam towards the wreck, his black fishtail effortlessly propelling him through the water. "What treasures you must hold."

He swam up to an open porthole, the wood along the edge crumbling at his touch. Inside the hull was dark and murky, the dim light catching on a stray bit of metal or illuminating a frayed bit of cloth.

A shark swam above, its great shadow falling over the merman as it passed by. He ignored it as he swam into the wreckage through the fatal, yawning hole in its hull.

He looked through what remained of the cabins below decks, growing more and more disappointed as he found nothing interesting and new. He already had three of those tiny silver tools with the sharp, narrow teeth that uncomfortably reminded him of the sea king's trident. The odd, horn-like wooden toy he uncovered had some merits; yet, as he slipped it into his bag, he was half-certain he had a similar toy resting quietly somewhere in his lair.

Severus frowned, unhappy with the lack of genuine treasure, when he found a fairly intact specimen of what he dubbed a 'hardpock', its hard shell still smooth and the thin, pale sheets within it still whole and covered in rows of strange black symbols. He slipped this into his bag as well, tucking it alongside the horn toy when he heard a scream coming from just outside the ship.

He swam out of the wreck, his black hair streaming out behind him, and frowned when he spotted the source of the screaming.

Swimming desperately around and through the shipwreck was a blond-haired merboy, his pale, pointed face frozen in a panic. He swam wildly, hoping to escape the snapping jaws of the shark intent on making him dinner. He dove around the bow of the ship, and, noticing the black-haired merman watching, darted forth with one last panicked burst of energy.

The merboy's mouth was wide open and trembling as he cried out, "Help!" His gangly arms were stretched out in front of him as the shark tore through the wooden ship with its crushing teeth in pursuit.

The merboy grabbed Severus' arm and spun them about in the water, as much to pull the merman away from the threat as to put another, more tantalizing prey in the shark's path to enable his escape. Severus retaliated by grabbing the boy's arm in return and pushing him back towards the shark, which was now encircling them in a slow, threatening manner.

The merboy was whimpering, his pale gray eyes darting between the shark's black, beady eyes and Severus' visage. The merman bared his teeth in a facsimile of a smile, not reassuring the merboy in the slightest that he would be allowed to leave with life and limb intact.

"Don't you know the graveyards are off-limits to little merfolks like you?" Severus said silkily, the tail on the large shark swatting the merboy's backside for emphasis. "Perhaps we should let Krum here teach you why that is so."

The shark, pleased with the suggestion, snapped its sharp, pointed, monstrous teeth at the merboy's pale green fishtail.

The merboy jerked away from the teeth in fear, unable to get as far as he wished while the merman still had a tight grip on his white arm. He stared wide-eyed at Severus. "That thing's your pet?"

Severus pushed the boy off and away from him with a sneer. "You have ten seconds," he said smoothly. "Use them wisely." Krum the shark was grinning viciously from just over Severus' shoulder, anticipating the inevitable hunt.

The merboy, perhaps in a testament to his intelligence, wasted no time and immediately turned tail. He swam as fast as possible away from the black-haired merman and his violent, fish-eating friend. By the time Severus' mental countdown had reached five, the merboy was nearly home free, a dim pale spot in the distance growing ever smaller.

Severus ran a hand down Krum's smooth body and smiled at the shark in approval. "Do you always have to play with your food, Krum?" he asked the great white with much affection. The shark's fin slapped against Severus' side in reply.

"Let's leave before that fool decides to return," he said to the shark. At that, the two parted. The massive great white swam off towards the west in search of prey. The black-tailed merman swam south towards his lair, his salvaging bag light but for the toy horn and the hardpock he intended to examine once he got home.

 

* * *

 

Severus' lair was a grotto, vast and lit only by what light shown down from the porthole-small opening at its peak. A large boulder protected the narrow opening near the ocean floor, and, despite the dark, foreboding nature of its inhabitant, little about its exterior suggested dark and foreboding on its own. In fact, it was quite innocuous and so far from the homes of other merfolks that Severus' isolation was rarely broken, which suited the merman perfectly.

Inside the lair, the natural shelves were filled with all the bric-a-brac of the surface world Severus had ever collected. Thin, metal rods on various lengths and unknown uses were cluttered together in hollows in the rock. Flat, colorful drawings rested on the edges and rows upon rows of hardpocks encircled the cavern like guardians of a world Severus would never know.

He pulled out his newest acquisitions, laying aside the toy horn to more closely examine the salvaged hardpock. There were symbols along the hard, long edge, symbols that he knew but could not decipher. A quick look through his collection revealed he did not already own a hardpock with the same exact symbols written along its spine, so with a sigh of muted happiness, he placed the new hardpock alongside others with a similar-looking first symbol, the common one that appeared like the head of a hammerhead, with its eyes perpendicular to the surface and its mouth towards the ocean floor.

Satisfied with the placement of his new treasure, he moved towards the darker parts of his grotto, intent on examining his potion stores in preparation for some brewing later when there was an odd clatter from the string of shells he kept by the opening of the cavern.

His brow creased in a frown as he slipped out of the cavern through the opening at the peak, curious as to who was calling. He silently swam down the opposite side of the rocks, not intending on alerting his visitors to his presence until the most opportune time. Peering from behind a sea anemone, Severus made out the miniscule shape of two seahorses standing at attention in front of the boulder, both in full royal messenger regalia.

He bit back the sigh before sliding out from behind the rocks. It seemed that the sea king might wish for his presence today.

 

* * *

 

The White King's throne was as garish and blinding as his palace, Severus thought as he approached the sea king. King Albus was reclining in his white shell-shaped throne, appearing as if he was not expecting any company for the afternoon and was actually just about to take a refreshing nap. His long white hair floated around his face like a halo and his beard, weighted down with bits of coral and shells, rested on his chest and down his belly to pool on his lap. At the sight of Severus, his mouth lengthened into a gentle smile.

"Severus," the sea king said as he watched Severus come closer. "We missed you during today's recital. I believe you promised to perform today?" The sea king's fingers were resting against the tip of one of the golden trident's sharp prongs.

"My liege, you know I promised no such thing," Severus said smoothly as he bowed at the sea king, stopping a reasonable distance away from the king, and more than amply out of reach of the trident's prongs. "Performing for the masses is something I do not do. Not even for the White King."

"And more's the pity," the sea king said. "For the kingdom will never know the true beauty of your voice if you keep denying me this one thing."

"The day I believe the kingdom is in true need of the 'true beauty' of my voice, then I will concede," Severus said, unhappy with the conversation. "Until then, I see no reason to make myself the laughing stock of the entire kingdom because one merman, however king he may be, wished to hear me sing."

The sea king said nothing for a moment, and Severus, once he had spoken his peace, grew anxious in the silence, fearful that he had rebelled against the White King for the last time.

"I heard the oddest piece of gossip earlier today," the sea king said, almost catching Severus off-guard by the unexpected change of topic.

"Nothing worthwhile is ever heard from gossip, my liege," Severus said dutifully.

"Of that, you can be certain," the sea king said with a sage nod of his head. "For example, I heard that you have been cavorting with sharks and other disreputable companions."

"My liege, surely you know that I am not one to 'cavort' in any sense," Severus said.

"Indeed, you are much too serious to indulge in such things. However," the sea king said, his tone growing serious, "I've also heard you've been dabbling with things that are forbidden to merfolks."

"I am merely trying to understand the larger world, my liege," Severus said quickly. "Surely you can this is no terrible thing."

"You were seen, Severus," the sea king said. "You were seen going to the surface, which you know is explicitly forbidden."

"Forbidden for foolish young mermaids who drag their paramours underneath the waves," Severus said, bristling.

"And for foolish young mermen that can't let the past be," the sea king retorted hotly before taking a deep breath. "I know you do this to be closer to her," he continued, his voice softer, more paternal now. "That, one day, you will go up there and she'll be there, waiting for you, but that will never happen." The sea king slid off his throne and closed the gap between them. He placed his bony, fragile hands on Severus' shoulders. "She's gone, Severus, and it's no good to cling to her and forget how to live."

Severus scowled at the floor.

"Promise me you will not return to the surface," the sea king said. "It _is_ dangerous up there, whether you believe me or not."

It's only dangerous for foolish young mermaids, Severus thought, as he nodded. "I promise," he lied, knowing the king didn't believe him.

"I only want what's best for you."

 

* * *

 

The moon up above was full; its light was strong and bright as it lit Severus' way back home. He was not often summoned to the palace, but each time was a draining experience and he did not relish in the privilege.

A shadow passed over him, and Severus looked up, half-expecting to see Krum or some other shark out on the prowl. The dark object was no shark, however; it was much too large for even a great white. Curious, Severus swam to the surface, his black fishtail kicking furiously.

On the surface was a large sailing ship, above which were bright, loud flashes of exploding light. Severus stared, mesmerized by the lights, before deciding to swim closer to the ship. As he drew closer, he could hear music playing and men singing and laughing. There were shouts and bits of song floating over the calm waters, and above all this noise the blasts of sound from the exploding lights in the sky.

His promise to the White King long forgotten, Severus climbed up the side of the ship, perched himself on a jutting bit of the hull, and stared at the humans celebrating, fascinated by their odd ways. It wasn't the first time he had seen humans this close, so anxious he was for a glimpse of the one he had lost so long ago. Sailors, however, with their rough ways and less-than-friendly look at merfolks, were never enough to catch Severus' eye for long.

This time, however, just as he grew full of the sight of dancing, singing, slightly inebriated sailors, someone caught his eye. Or, more specifically, a boy, with untamed black hair that stuck out in all directions and an unkempt, free air.

Severus stared at the boy and his heart raced as he noticed the boy's green eyes. He might have been wearing those strange "crystal frames", black and nearly obscuring the boy's face, but the frames only made the boy's eyes all the more noticeable, and the sight filled the merman with great longing. The human's body was fit and lean as he danced, a thousand songs could have been composed on the shape and color of his lips alone, and even his sunburned nose had a charm all its own, but it was his eyes that enchanted Severus. Those eyes were so similar to another's, and the merman's blood grew hot for the boy.

He needed the boy. He needed to be with him.

He needed to possess him.

Harry, for better or worse, was not aware of the merman's hot gaze. He was dancing about and playing with his large black dog, Sirius, laughing at the dog's antics. Harry hopped and danced around Sirius, driving the large dog into a great, joyful frenzy. It jumped and barked and nearly knocked the young man off his feet on occasion in his enthusiasm. Harry only laughed all the more with each of the dog's attempts.

The music, bright, cheerful, and largely impromptu, stopped abruptly with a wave of Percy's hands. "Quiet, quiet!" he said over the din. The sailors silenced, curious, as Percy led Harry to something large, draped in a thick red cloth. "In celebration of your 18th birthday, it is my honor and privilege to present our esteemed Prince Harry a very special, very expensive, and very large birthday present. Gentlemen, if you please."

"Aw, Percy, that's really," Harry said as two of the sailors unveiled the gift with remarkable flourish. "Fantastic," he continued, his voice flattening with faint shock.

"I know," Percy said with self-satisfaction.

Harry ran a hand through his hair and stared at his birthday present, a life-size, larger-than-life, _painted_ stone statue of himself. Every stone strand of hair was in place in a way that would have never been possible in real life, and the smooth lines of the formal white were perfect and unflustered in any way. Harry doubted he had ever looked so… majestic.

"The artisans assured me that the paints would last for ten ages," Percy said, utterly pleased with the statue. "They even used real emeralds to bring out the sparkles in your eyes."

Harry looked at the painted stone face, which was nearly identical to his own but for the lack of glasses and the abundance of an unplaceable arrogance. Even the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead was present, even if its stone counterpart was thinner and less obtrusive than the original. "They do almost look real," he admitted, staring at the glittering green eyes. "It's almost like looking at my mother's portrait."

"You do have Princess Lily's eyes, Harry," Percy said, his voice a measure less genteel, and softer for it. "There's no escaping that."

Severus, who was not completely fluent in the humans' language, did not pay any mind to the conversation between the boy and the tall, thin, red-haired man, his attentions already split between the warmth of the boy and the perfection of the stone statue. Even from hiding spot, Severus could see the glitter of the statue's green eyes, nearly as captivating as the real thing. Yet, between the cold perfection of the statue and warm, disheveled boy it represented, there was no comparison.

It was only the mentioning of one name, the name that was forever in his heart and in his thoughts, that jarred him away from waxing ever more dreadful eloquence over the green-eyed boy. They could not have meant his…

A fork of lightning split the darkening sky. The wind was beginning to blow dangerously fast. A storm was approaching, sending the sailors on the ship running about to secure their vessel.

Severus dove in the safety of the ocean and watched as the humans scrambled about onboard. Their ship crashed through the storm. It tossed about dangerously, uncontrolled by the humans onboard however much they tried. The waves, once fine and smoother than a sand-smoothed stone, was choppy and turbulent, pitching the large ship every which way. Lightning crashed all around, striking the ship and starting a fire near the stern. As the humans attempted to put the fire out, a large rock loomed dangerously in the ship's path.

The ship crashed against the rock, pitching much of the crew overboard, an act the others on board quickly imitated. The fire was growing stronger, the ship was beginning to sink, and then an explosion, greater and more frightening than the ones Severus had seen in the sky earlier, ripped through the ship, tossing up wood and metal and people up in the air like so many grains of sand.

Severus ducked from the sudden flare of heat and debris, the water acting as a shield against the hot, dangerous projectiles, before emerging again, seeing nothing of the once-grand ship in the burning, sinking husk bobbing helplessly in the water.

He looked about, searching for any humans that might see him, floating there in the middle of the wreckage, when he spotted the boy, clinging weakly to a piece of driftwood before losing what grip he had and sinking into the waters.

Without hesitation, Severus dove after him, determined to save him, if only for the sake of those eyes.

 

* * *

 

Harry was warm, in a way he imagined he must had been when his parents had been alive. It was a warmth that felt not just comforting, but _safe_ , protected against all the dark, dangerous things in the world. He could feel the sun shining on him, but, more than that, there was a warm hand against his cheek, filling his spirit with comfort.

A voice was singing to him, a dark, velvety voice just as warm and comforting. It sang in words Harry did not know, or could not understand, still rousing himself from what felt like a deep sleep. It sang, the rhythm almost a chant, and as Harry slowly opened his eyes, the sun bright as it shone above them, he drowsily stared at the face of his rescuer.

Harry could not make out the man's features, but there was no mistaking the strength of the person singing to him. Harry could see the dark, smoldering look in the man's jet-black eyes and the thick fall of the man's long black hair.

Harry's hand weakly reached up and touched the man's cheek, knowing his mouth was slowly quirking up into a grin but he could not stop himself. His hand cupped the stranger's face as the stranger's hand continued to cup his own, and Harry's heart began to ache with the stirrings of young love.

But, as Harry began to understand the ramifications of what was before him, as he yearned to know the man's name, the stranger was gone, suddenly driven off as a barking dog drew closer.

"Harry!" Percy cried out as Sirius licked at Harry's face, pulling him out of the daze of strange dreams and blossoming love. Harry rose to his feet, shakily staring out at the ocean. He searched for the stranger in the waves, certain that the man could not have just disappeared.

"Oh Harry, I swear. One day, you're going to be the death of me," Percy said, one hand reaching out to touch Harry's arm, as if to make sure the young prince was truly there.

"Did you see him?" Harry asked anxiously. At Percy's quizzical look, he added, "The man who rescued me." A silly smile formed on his lips as he slipped out of Percy's light grasp. "He was… singing." His voice was almost sighing. "He had the most beautiful voice."

Percy, unsure of what to make of Harry's delusional ramblings, only guided the prince away from the shore with a firm hand on the young man to keep him from straying. Sirius barked and ran about around them, aching for his newly-found Harry's affections.

The merman watched, unseen, from behind a rock, and he ached all the more for the boy with the green eyes.

The boy the other called 'Harry'…


	2. In which there is a Witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Severus struggles with the magic necessary to transform his tail into legs. There are reports of unnatural magic. And Severus meets a sea witch. It does not end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was cut in half, making it a bit shorter than I had planned. Sorry.
> 
> ... Which means that the next update ~~should~~ will be on ~~Saturday (1/24)~~ very soon.

_In which there is a botched potion, a bit of alone time with a statue, a fight with a lusca, unexpected encounters with a King, a Shark, and a Merboy, and a witch with bodies lining the walls and a locket hanging from her neck..._

 

* * *

 

Glass jars filled with bioluminescent plankton and dead sea-fireflies floated above the slab. The blue-green glow filled the grotto with just enough light for Severus’s work. The thin laver fronds under his knife reminded him faintly of the boy-prince's hair. The green sheen of the obsidian knife reminded Severus of the boy's eyes.  
  
He wrapped the strips of laver around the tadpole tails with care. The shell full of crushed coral and cured manatee blood sat at his elbow, bubbles slowly forming on the surface of the nearly-complete potion.  
  
He had been working on this potion for nearly a month, testing and retesting his old theories in hope that this time it would work. He had been young, merely a novice, when he had tried to join Lily into the world of men. His ability to wield magic has been rudimentary at best, but he had grown so much more powerful since then. Nearly a master in his own right now, he could brew tempests and bottle dreams with ease. A simple transfiguration potion should not be beyond him.  
  
Severus held his breath as he slid the wrapped tadpole tail into the potion. As the tail disappeared underneath the surface, Severus believed that he had finally done it. He might had actually succeeded. It was at that moment when a cluster of reddish-grey bubbles rose languidly from the potion and burst, releasing a thick black sludge into Severus’s face.  
  
He swore under his breath as the shell cracked and the blackened potion oozed out onto the slab. He threw a handful of sand onto it, neutralizing it before it ate through the stone. He wiped the failure away with scraps of sail.    
  
Severus threw the scraps and the cracked shell into a dark corner and slumped to the ground for a well-deserved sulk. _Mermaids_ did not need to go through all this trouble. They could shed their fins as easily as one would shed skin or scale.  
  
No, mermen couldn’t strip off their tails on a whim, but they had the magic. _He_ had the magic, and he should be able to craft a potion capable of doing this one, simple thing.  
  
Severus straightened, his continual inability to solve this one problem had filled his bones with stone. He would need another shell, he noted as he took hold of one of the lamps and swam down to the deepest part of his grotto. Perhaps more tadpole tails as well, though he wondered if he should use more crushed coral instead.  
  
The lamp’s glow reflected off sharp emerald and immaculate painted stone as Severus drew closer to his newest, greatest treasure. Beside Severus’s bed, surrounded by his most illicit possessions, stood the boy-prince’s statue, majestic and beautiful despite being unceremoniously tipped into the sea.  
  
It had taken Severus days to find it, and days more to bring it to his home without being seen. He learned and kissed the scratches in the paint, the parts of the stone that had chipped off when it hit the ocean floor. He knew the rough, gritty patch from where the statue’s knee banged against rock. He had cut his lip on the sharp cheekbones.  
  
Severus knew it was a poor substitute, but as he let go of the lamp, Severus felt once against transfixed by that face, by those green eyes that glowed in the greenish-blue light.  
  
He cupped that stone face, remembering the prince’s skin and how it had felt underneath the salt and sand. The stone was smooth, its smile cold.  
  
Oh, how soft and warm the prince’s mouth must be!, he lamented as he pressed his cheek against the statue. He ran his hand over the painted hair. How soft to the touch!  
  
Severus curled his arms around his treasure and rested his head on the face, his nose against the painted jagged scar. He knew this obsession was driving him insane, but he could not rest until he created the needed potion and had his arms wrapped around the boy-prince’s warm, beautiful body. He ran a hand over the hard shoulder and down the chest, tracing the edges of the odd adornments on the statue’s chest.  
  
“Would you know me,” he asked the statue, his voice hushed and shy, “when I find you again? Do I fill your thoughts like you have filled mine?”  
  
The statue did not answer him. Severus amused himself with relearning every carved line.

* * *

  
Severus floated above the black fronds of seaweed that grew near the shore, a thin wooden pole in one hand and his stone knife held close against his side. He could smell the lusca that made the algae bed its home, could hear its agitation as he dragged the pole through the fronds.  
  
It was peaceful in a sense. The setting sun made the waters softer, gentler somehow, and the swaying fronds had a way of soothing an anxious mind. It had a way of making a creature feel at ease, making him forget that a hungry predator lurked within that peace, waiting for its chance to strike.  
  
The pole caught and jerked. Severus tightened his grip and lifted it out of the algae. A lusca half Severus’s size had its greenish-black tentacles wrapped around the other end. It swiveled its merman-like head and screeched, exposing the three rows of teeth inside its head.  
  
Severus barely had his knife up when the lusca shot teeth-first at his neck. He sliced at the lusca’s head, catching it in the cheek just as the lusca swerved out of the way. One of its tentacles whipped at Severus, nearly catching him in the chest.  
  
It turned, its tiny yellow eyes nearly slits, and screeched before attacking again. Severus swung the pole at the creature, smashing the lusca in the side of the head and snapping his pole in two. The lusca twisted and rolled with the blow.  
  
Severus did not hesitate. Before the lusca could right itself, his knife was there, driving through thin membrane and muscle and into the lusca’s soft head. It let out a gurgling screech and wrapped its tentacles around Severus’s arm. Severus stabbed the head a second time, ignoring the blood and ichor tainting the water around him.  
  
The lusca flailed at Severus’s chest and neck as the last of its strength left its body.    
  
“Collecting ingredients?”  
  
Severus, startled, turned and immediately bowed. “My liege,” he murmured. The lusca’s tentacles flicked and tangled themselves in Severus’s hair as it twitched through its death throes. He glanced at the small group of court merfolk lingering at the edge of the algae beds and at the trident held loosely in the White King’s hand before looking away. “It’s rare to see you out of the depths.”  
  
“I was in the mood for a stroll.” Severus suppressed a shudder as Albus waved the prongs of his trident about. “That’s a fine lusca on your arm.”  
  
“Thank you, my liege.” He pried one of the tentacles off. His fin flicked, putting a bit of distance between himself and the White King.  
  
Albus eyed the lusca with a smile on his lips. “Their skin is useful in transformative magic, yes?”  
  
“And healing.” Severus sneered at the nervous sound of his own voice. He shrugged and looked away. “It’s always wise to be well-stocked.”  
  
“A sound policy.” Albus hummed and nodded his head. The charms and beads of sea glass threaded through his hair clicked against each other. He looked out at the fronds swaying in the current and the dark blue drop into the depths and the edge of the seabed. “I’ve forgotten how calming this place is.”  
  
“It has its charms.” Severus speared the lusca onto his broken pole.  
  
A cry rang out from the cluster of court ‘folk. “Shark!” one of them shouted, pointing at the dark shadow swimming towards Severus. He sucked in a breath and raised his bloodied knife, cursing the lusca bleeding out into the water, only to sigh.  
  
He swam towards the great white. “Krum,” he said, holding out a hand to the shark. “Smelled the chum, did you?” Krum swam a circle around Severus, nudging the dead lusca with its nose. It bared its teeth.  
  
Severus shoved the shark away. “Get your own meal, you oaf.” Krum swam around Severus, its beady eyes on the meal already before it.  
  
The White King swam up to Severus’s side. “Is this…your friend, Severus?”  
  
Severus pushed Krum away. “It’s a shark, my liege,” he said. He scooped out the lusca’s innards with his knife and chucked them at Krum’s massive head. The shark snapped the meat up. “And it's biding its time before deciding I’m better a meal than a companion.” Krum slid his side against Severus’s stomach. He threw the shark one of the lusca’s eyes.  
  
Albus’s smile reached his eyes. “Of course.” He glanced at the court merfolk. “I believe my companions are ready to return to colder waters. But, there is one more thing I wish to speak to you about before I leave you to your hunting.”  
  
“Of course.” Krum ate the other eye out of his hand, nearly taking Severus’s fingers with it. Severus bopped the shark on the nose.  
  
Albus held the trident with both hands. “There have been reports,” he said, his voice dropping to a murmur. Severus went still. “Concerning unnatural magic. Death magic.”  
  
“Death magic?” Severus’s hand found Krum’s side and stroked the scales. So many questions came to mind, but all he could manage was a weak, “How?”  
  
“Minerva suspects someone might be catching mermaids and corrupting them, but I don’t believe that’s the cause.” Albus shook his head. “I’m afraid that darker forces are in play.”  
  
“Death magic is involved. How much darker can it get?”  
  
Albus looked out at the algae beds. His fingers drummed a slow beat on the shaft of his trident before presenting Severus with another flat smile. “That is a fair point.” He patted Severus on the shoulder. “Stay safe.”  
  
“Of…of course, my liege.” Severus bowed slightly and watched the White King lead his entourage into the dark drop. The white of Albus’s hair faded into the dark, but the golden prongs twinkled until even its awesome power could not withstand the dark and the pressure of the deep.  
  
As Severus watched the last glimmer of the trident wink out, Krum jerked from underneath Severus’s hand and darted towards the beds near the drop. Severus froze before swimming after it, holding the speared lusca and the knife against his chest. “Stop!” he shouted as the shark snapped at a pale, green-finned merboy.  
  
The merboy darted out of Krum’s way, his pale face twisting in fear. He glanced about for shelter, his fin working hard and fast to keep him out of Krum’s teeth. Severus swam between the idiot and Krum’s sharp teeth and grabbed hold of the boy's arm.  
  
“You,” Severus hissed as he got a good look at the merboy’s pale, pointy face. “Didn’t learn your lesson the first time, I see.”  
  
“I didn’t do anything!” the merboy cried out, trying to pull out of Severus’ grasp. Krum gnashed its teeth at him. The boy whimpered.  
  
“How long were you following me?” Severus tightened his grip around the merboy’s thin arm. “Why are you following me? Answer me!”  
  
“I’m not following you!” the merboy cried out, his voice high and reedy with fear. “She told me—“  
  
“She? She _who_?”

* * *

  
The merboy led Severus north along the shoreline, maneuvering them through the strong currents that threatened to twist them towards the rocks. Every time he glanced behind him, Severus gave him a smile full of teeth that only served to urge the merboy to swim faster.  
  
Krum lurked behind, swimming forward only for nerves or the cold or the unfamiliar surroundings to spook it. Or perhaps it was the itch in the water that was making Krum ill at ease. Severus stroked the shark's dorsal fin, thanking it for not abandoning him yet. Having the great white at his side as he met the merboy’s mysterious mistress eased some of Severus’ own apprehensions, even if it did not take them away.  
  
Dark shadows passed over them, startling the merboy into a jerky panic. He darted off, spurred on by his fear, forcing Severus and Krum to swim hard and fast to catch up.  
  
The boy finally slowed down as they reached the wreckage of a small ship crumbling on the seabed. The bottom of the ship was completely missing, as if someone had taken a sharp blade and sliced it away. The prow pointed wearily towards a cave in the cliff face pressed against the shoreline. Jagged rocks surrounded the slitted opening.  
  
“She lives there,” the merboy said, gesturing at the cave.  
  
Severus stared down at the boy. “Go on,” he said when the little idiot did not move. “You’ve led us this far.”  
  
The merboy hesitated but kicked off and swam straight for the opening.  
  
Severus made to follow, only for Krum to swim into his path. He glared at the shark. “What?”  
  
Krum weaved its giant head between the narrow opening it had no chance of swimming into and the foul-feeling waters they were in. It knocked its nose against Severus’s shoulder, pushing him in a distinctly southern direction.  
  
“You’re panicking about nothing,” Severus said. He rubbed Krum’s nose; Krum snapped its teeth at Severus’s fingers. “If I don’t return before sunrise, go to the White King. Understand?”  
  
Krum pulled away, thrashing its tail and nearly cutting Severus with its caudal fin as it swam away, which was just as well. Severus stared at the cave opening, ignoring the fear growing inside his heart.  
  
The jagged rocks surrounding the opening were sharp enough to tear off ribbons of flesh, but the edges of the opening were much too smooth to have been created by erosion alone. Inside the cave, the walls were stripped clean of life and the water felt slimy and stagnant against Severus’ skin, making it difficult for Severus to move or even breathe with ease.  
  
On a rock shelf jutting out above the high water mark, the bodies of several dozen humans stood frozen, their bodies twisted into grotesque poses. One had been twisted so much at the waist, he looked ready to snap at the center, while a trio of women, linked arm to arm, stood on one leg, the other lifted to curl around their necks.  
  
In the very back of the cave, a short, toad-like woman in salt-stained clothes had made herself at home. She sat in a chair warming herself by an eerie blue fire. Pale pink canvas covered the sand floor. The cave walls curved out and up above her head. She took a sip from a white cup and set it on the table beside her.  
  
The merboy’s head surfaced some distance away from the woman. His eyes kept darting towards two bodies standing closest to the woman’s patch of dry land, a man and a woman with the foot of the other crammed into their mouths.  
  
“You’re back early,” the woman said in a high, breathlessly girlish voice. “Did you see— oh!” She gasped and grasped at the locket hanging from her neck as Severus surfaced silently. The air of the cave was, not surprisingly, even more offensive to the senses than the water. The stench of dark magic and unwashed corpses hung in the air like a heavy perfume. “You’ve brought a friend.”  
  
She gave Severus a wide, simpering sort of smile, the firelight casting her stretched jowls in grotesque shadows. “Hello there,” she cooed in the surface tongue, as if Severus was a wild, stupid beast. “Is this him, Draco?”  
  
“It is,” the merboy, Draco, said, barely glancing at Severus. “Please, Madam Dolores, my parents—“  
  
“ _Your parents_ ,” she snapped, her girlish voice dropping an octave as she spoke. She cleared her throat. “No, no,” she continued, her voice high and saccharine once more.”Your parents are perfectly fine right where they are. I’ve become rather fond of their company, actually.” She stared at Severus for a moment. “Now, this merman you’ve brought me. Does he speak, or do I have to depend on gesturing again?”  
  
“I speak,” Severus said sharply, startling the woman.  
  
“Oh my!” Dolores said, clutching at the locket around her neck. “A talking beast, how utterly unnatural. You, merman! Come. Closer.” She gestured wildly for Severus. “Do they have names, Draco? No matter, no matter. Merman, do you know who I am?”  
  
She stretched her squat form out to its full height. “I am Dolores, the Umbrage of the North Coast. The Witch of the Sea.” Severus squinted up at the woman, unconvinced. “Do you see this boy? He was human, once, just like I, but in a fit of madness, had decided to make himself like the animals. It was _my_ magic that had turned him into the beast you see before you.”  
  
Severus let out a snort. “You. A human.” Humans didn’t have that sort of magic, as far as Severus knew.  
  
“Yes, me. Your superior!” She grinned. “I have more power in this wand than you have in your entire body, beast.”  
  
Beast, she called him. He sneered at the little woman and her worthless posturing. “Do you expect me to impressed by your little tricks? I, who can curse you with a word and heal you with a song?”  
  
“ _You will speak to me with respect!_ ” she roared. “Come and marvel at my _little tricks_.” With that, she aimed her stick at Draco’s head. A bright yellow light shot out and struck the boy, causing him to convulse furiously in the water. Draco barely let out a cry before sinking into the stagnant waters.  
  
Severus dove down after the boy, cursing himself even as he reached out to save the stupid human from drowning. Draco kicked and swung his arms wildly, as if the witch had not just turned his tail into human legs, but had taken the boy’s ability to swim as well. Severus lifted him back to the surface even as Draco struggled against him.  
  
The witch gave Severus a thin, self-satisfied smile. “From beast to man with a simple spell,” she boasted, her stick still in her hand. “Do you think you can do the same?” Draco clung to Severus, nearly dragging them back under as he wrapped his legs around Severus’ tail. He shoved the now-human boy onto the dry land at Dolores’s feet.  
  
“I can do the same for you. Make you into a real human boy.” Her voice dropped an octave. “Severus, son of Tobias.”  
  
Severus stared. The reddish glow in the woman’s bulging eyes filled Severus’ belly with dread. “How do you know my name?”  
  
“The same way I know what you’ve been doing in that secret grotto of yours, so sure that no one can see,” the witch continued in a cold, hissing voice. Her stubby fingers stroked her locket, tracing the curl of green stones embedded into the gold. “For all his spinelessness, Draco is an exceptional little sneak. He was there when you saved that human prince, weren’t you, Draco?” She patted Draco’s wet hair. “He even saw you drag that great statue home, though he couldn’t figure out why. But I think I can take a very good guess.”  
  
Severus reared back, stunned surprise quickly giving way to cold rage. There was no way that boy had been able to watch him for so long. The waters surged sluggishly around him. “And now you plan to use that weakness against me?” He glowered at Draco as the boy crawled to sit at his parents’ feet. “I have no family to sacrifice to you.”  
  
Draco glared at Severus, his pale face splotchy with misery. Dolores, on the other hand, merely smiled. “There is something that I would like in exchange for my services,” she said as she held her stick with both hands, her left lightly brushing the end. “A token, really. A mere trifle.”  
  
“Again, I think you’re working under the assumption that I am as dumb as a human.”  
  
“Your voice, Severus son of Tobias,” she went on with a magnanimous wave of her hand. “A more than reasonable price for some time on the surface and a pair of human legs.”  
  
Severus glared at the witch.  
  
“Come now,” she said. “Even an ignorant beast should be able to see that this was an excellent deal. Three days of sunshine with your handsome little prince, and if you get him to…kiss you—“ The witch’s voice cracked and her face blanched. She clutched at her locket. “Yesssss… A Kissss….” She covered her neck and stared up at the ceiling. “A Kiss of True Lov—“ She choked on her words. Draco crawled backwards away from her, horror in his wide eyes.  
  
Severus had heard and seen more than enough. “Keep your deal,” he spat, “and your sniffling little boy away from me, or I swear by the Trident, I will come back here and eat you.”  
  
The red light in the woman’s eyes faded as she glared down at him. “Savage beast,” she rasped out. “You threaten your better?”  
  
“My ‘better’ doesn’t live in a stagnant cave surrounded by rotting corpses.” He turned to swim away. One of the bodies on the walls twitched in the blue firelight.  
  
“You are not leaving, Son of Tobias,” the woman hissed in a cold, high voice. She raised her wand;  the waters churned around him. “Not until our deal is complete.”  
  
“I have agreed to no deal!” The water rose, lifting and pushing him towards to the woman’s feet. He struggled against the unnatural current, clawing at the sterile walls as it smashed him against the sides of the cave. He felt a clammy hand rake at his arms and neck, pulling at his hair and tearing into his scales.  
  
He pushed his magic out at the water tossing him about, but it was no match against the woman’s magic, not when she was surrounded by the corpses that fueled it. The water spat Severus on the dry land. He raised his head from the dark sand to see the woman’s stick pointed at the space between Severus’s eyes.  
  
“ _Stupefy_ ,” she crowed. The green jewels on her locket were black in the blue firelight. Her eyes flashed blood-red as the spell hit Severus between the eyes.


	3. In which there is a Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the delay. I intended to post this sooner, but things just didn't work out that way. Number of chapters have been bumped up from 3 to 6, though there might be a 7th/epilogue as well.
> 
> The next chapter will be up within two weeks (Feb. 18th at the latest), fingers crossed.

_In which there are feet, an attacking dog, an awkward meal, an attempt at a tour of a Home, and an Unnatural Storm blowing in to destroy everything in its path..._

 

Severus awoke on a beach, battered and alone but for a pair of seagulls flying overhead. The sun, already in the sky and climbing, burned his eyes and aggravated his throbbing headache. He hid his face in his shoulder and dug his fingers into the wet sand.

Memory and sense of self returned slowly. Had he met a witch in her cave full of bodies, or was that the remnants of a bad dream? Surely, it must have been a dream, because if it had been real, then why was he still alive and _not there_ , decorating her cave with his twisted, defiled corpse? He dragged himself up and covered his forehead with his hands. He waited for his brain to stop sloshing about and stared at his feet.

His…?

Severus lowered his hands. He squinted at the white, bony feet. The toes wiggled at him.

He grabbed one of the feet ( _feet!?_ ) with both hands and pulled it close only to be distracted by the pale, hairless leg connecting the foot to the rest of Severus’s body.

He… He had legs.

He had legs and long, bony feet. He was starting to hyperventilate, and was that his penis? He gave the flaccid member a tug.

Yes. That was his penis now. He had a human penis.

He covered his face and let out a panicky laugh, only to choke on air when no sound came out. He wrapped his hands around his neck, his heart was racing as he felt the screams gathering in the back of his throat. He tried to breathe in, but his lungs were not working. The air was too thin. He curled up and clutched at his hair, praying for his head to _stop spinning into his skull_ so that he could think.

The ocean water, no longer warm and smooth on his scales, scraped at his new legs. The sun burned his back and made his eyes water. He was alone on land, stripped of his voice and his tail, and everything _hurt_. A sob hiccuped and coughed its way out.

The seagulls gathered on the rocks laughed at him. He shoved his magic at them with a silent cry, scattering them with a wave. He gave himself a watery smile; at least that witch hadn’t taken his magic as well.

Severus wiped the wetness off his cheeks with his arms and crawled out of the water in search of shelter. There was plenty to find; the high cliffs towering above him and the jagged rocks along the shoreline made the the narrow, rocky beach he had been dumped on a haven for shipwreck debris. Within moments, he spotted some canvas cloth still hanging to a mast long snapped in two and just in arms’ reach. He rose to his knees and stripped it off the wreckage with a yank. The tattered canvas rubbed against his sunburned shoulders.

With the aid of a broken oar, he attempted to stand. His legs buckled and wobbled, but held, feeling Severus with bitter joy. By the Trident, he was going find that witch and cram her stick through her eye. He would _survive_ this and make her pay for she had done to him.

He leaned against the rocks and caught his breath. How could humans withstand being on two legs all the time? Standing alone was exhausting and painful; Severus felt every grain of sand like a knife stabbing the underside of his feet. The very thought of _walking_ with this pain made him hesitant to move.

A dog barked in the distance, its yapping echoing off the cliffs. Severus pulled the canvas tighter around his body and hobbled closer to the noise. Just around the bend where the cliffs curved away from the sea, stood a large, white building. A staircase rose up from the water and wound up and behind the smooth, cylindrical structures. Beyond that was a blocky structure and a high stone pier jutting out of the building and above the water. There was even a ship, tucked in the corner created by the cylindrical and blocky parts.

A young man stood some distance away from the building. He walked along the shoreline and tossed driftwood towards the water. The massive black dog with him splashed about, cheerfully chasing the twigs. Its master stared out at the sea, his shoulders slumped even as his dog jumped and slobbered and made a general nuisance of himself.

Severus leaned on his broken oar. The dog looked familiar enough, but part of him refused to believe what right in front of him. How could it be possible for the boy-prince be _right there_ within Severus’s reach? No long search through treacherous, unknown lands? No miles to travel? All Severus had to do was walk up to him and—

The dog’s head jerked up and swiveled towards Severus. He stumbled back, searching for a large enough rock to hide behind, but the dog was already running towards him, barking and snarling. Severus’s new legs faltered underneath him and he fell hard on his bottom.

The dog barked and jumped from side to side, forcing Severus to crawl back. “Sirius, heel!” the young man shouted, rushing over to pull his dog back. Severus’ heart threatened to beat its way out of his chest as the man gently pushed the dog back and stared down at the dog’s tormented foe. “Are you alright?”

Severus’s face reddened and his mouth fell open. It _was_ Harry, and he looked even more beautiful and perfect than Severus remembered.

He had fantasized about how he would find the boy-prince again. In his favorite, he would emerge from the waves, magnificent and grand in his magical glory, his cheeks still flushed with the knowledge he had been able to achieve what was once thought impossible. He would leave his home as a legend and appear before Harry as a irresistible force of nature.

Instead, here he lay, naked and cold but for the torn canvas he had wrapped around his body, with a large black dog growling and baring his teeth at him. He must make a truly piteous sight.

“I’m sorry if Sirius scared you,” the prince apologized, pushing the giant dog back. “He’s harmless, really.” He helped Severus to his feet. Severus’ legs, however, had other ideas and buckled underneath him, nearly sending them both to the ground.

The dog growled as Harry wrapped his arms around Severus and held him close. He was only a few inches shorter than Severus, but his arms were strong and Severus found himself melting.

Only inches separated their faces, and their bodies pressed together from chest to knees. After a month with the statue for company, being embraced by the real thing was intoxicating; the prince was smaller, hotter, with soft skin over hard muscle and bone. Emerald did not shine like the boy-prince’s eyes. Stone did not flush red like his lips, so close to Severus’s own.

Harry’s face reddened as he met Severus’s gaze. “You—“ Even the way he cleared his throat was endearing. “You seem very familiar to me. Have we met?”

Severus clutched the prince’s arm. _Yes, I saved you,_ he said, his lips mouthing the words before remembering his voice was gone, stolen away.

Harry’s face brightened with hope for a fraction of a moment, his eyes widening, only for the expression to collapse. His brow furrowed. “You… can’t speak?” Severus scowled at himself and lowered his head slightly. He shook his head once. “Oh,” Harry replied softly. “For a second I thought…” He shook his own head, clearly intending to pull away.

Severus grabbed the boy-prince’s face, cupping it in his hands. The skin, dark against Severus’s almost translucent hands, was warm and rough with faint hair growth and sea salt. He stared into Harry’s eyes.

 _I saved you_ , Severus all but screamed in his head as he pushed at the boy’s mind with his magic. _I pulled you out of that wreckage and onto this beach and I Sang to you! My voice is gone, but that doesn’t make that less true!_ His thoughts, however, seemed to only bounce harmlessly off the boy’s thick skull. Harry only stared back, his eyes wide with confusion and not a little fear.

Sensing his master’s anxiety, the prince’s dog pounced on Severus and bit his leg, knocking Severus unbalanced and sending both he and Harry sprawling to the ground. Severus let out a gasp as he fell hard on his back and side, and another when Harry dropped, knees and elbows first, on top of his soft body.

“Sirius!” the prince yelled, reprimanding his vicious dog before looking down at Severus’s face. “I’m really sorry.”

Severus’s heart was pounding hard against his chest. The sun shone into his eyes as he cupped Harry’s cheek with his hand. _Remember this?_ , he asked with his eyes, his fingertips. _Remember when I looked down on you like you are looking down on me right now?_

Harry covered Severus’s hand with his own, but there was no look of recognition on his face. “Are you alright?”

Severus squeezed his eyes shut and sucked in a breath. His hand curled and he pressed his fingertips into Harry’s skin.

The dog snuck in, wet nose first, underneath Harry's arm, pushing its gigantic body between them. "No, Sirius," Harry said, lifting himself to grab the dog by the back of its neck and giving it a shake. "Sit!" The dog fell back on its haunches, its head lowered, but its black eyes trained on Severus's neck.

"I am so sorry," Harry said as he helped Severus back to his feet. "He's really just a overgrown puppy, I swear." He stared at the bite in Severus’s leg in horror. “Does it hurt?"

 _Not as much as standing._ Severus shrugged and tugged the canvas back over his shoulders.

The boy-prince blushed and looked straight ahead. He slid an arm around Severus's waist. “Come on,” he said with nod of head. “My home is not far from here.” Severus leaned heavily against Harry’s side and suppressed a sigh when Harry tightened his grip.

“It’s alright. I got you.”

 

* * *

**_  
_**

Humans, Severus decided, were stranger than he had ever considered. As soon as they entered the large building Harry had called his “home”, Severus had been passed from human to human in a bizarre game of Touch and Dash, with himself as the harassed mantis shrimp. One showed him into a room that opened to a balcony overlooking the ocean. Another stripped him of his canvas and dumped him into a bubbling tub full of cloyingly sweet-smelling water.

A third, the one leading the way through the wide, tiled hallways, had treated Severus as little more than a doll as he crammed Severus’s body into human clothing. The openings at the neck, arms, chest and legs had at least ten fastenings to keep them shut tight. Yes, the material was many times softer than sailing canvas, but how could humans withstand movement when every inch of their body was constricted and every step agony? He tugged at the flap wrapped around his neck.

Voices echoed down the hall from one of the rooms nearby. Severus slowed down, ignoring the look the man leading him gave him.

“I leave the castle for less than an hour, and come back with the household in an uproar,” a man said, his voice rising to a near-hysterical levels. “The maids are saying you found a dumb sailor injured on the beach and brought him home—”

“I did,” was the boy-prince’s reply. Severus felt his cheeks grow warm just from the sound.

“Do you even know who he is?” the other man cried. “His name? His ship? Where he is from? Of course you don’t know. Apparently he can’t speak! Harry, you cannot risk your safety this way!”

“Sirius bit him, Percy! What kind of person would I be if I I just leave a man I injured suffer?”

“Sirius… _bit_ him? Good lord, Harry—”

“Nothing happened! I was helping him up to his feet.”

“The maid said he was brought in naked but for a sail.”

“That was how I found him.”

There was an uncomfortably long pause. The young man glared at Severus. “Sir,” he said with a hiss. Severus returned the glare with a sneer and strode past the man with his head held high, the agony of motion only fueling his pride.

“First, all this pining over a phantom sailor, and now dragging strange men home,” the man, Percy, muttered. “The sooner we return to Godric’s Hollow, the sooner I’ll feel at ease—”

The man fell silent as Severus walked into the room. He looked familiar enough, but Severus barely glanced at the red-haired man. All his attention was on the prince by the windows, who was staring out at the calm, blue sea.

There must be something magical about Harry, Severus decided, for what other reason could there be? Every time Severus saw him, he found the prince more breathtaking than the time before.

A slow, toothy smile formed on Harry’s face. “Hi,” he breathed out. “You—“ His eyes darted up and down Severus’s body. “You look wonderful.”

Severus returned the prince’s smile, suppressing the urge to preen. Suddenly, human clothing seemed much less of a burden.

The red-haired man scoffed. “Looks more like a vicar than any sailor I know,” he muttered under his breath.

Severus glared at the man, who grew pale under the attention.

“Um, this is Percy,” Harry said, stepping in. “My steward.”

Percy rose to his feet and extended his hand, but there was a hardness in his blue eyes. “It’s a pleasure,” he said, but the words petered out before they even left his mouth.

Severus stared down at the hand, then at Percy’s face, before looking at Harry.

“Um,” Harry said, growing a bit flustered. He gestured to the table. “Maybe we should start lunch? You must be hungry.” He pulled out a chair for Severus.

Severus sat, amused by the prince's endearingly nervous smile.

 

* * *

 

“Is there a name,” Percy said at one point during the meal, a bit of meat dangling from his eating utensil, “that we can call you? It’s impolite to sit with a man whose name you don’t know.”

Severus lowered his knife and stared at the man. He was in no mood for questions, not when he was struggling with both human manners and the strange, bleeding slab of meat he had been served. They lived _right on the water;_ why was there no fish on their plates?

“Actually, I’m curious, too,” Harry chimed in. “Could you write it down for us?”

 _Write?_ Severus scowled at the meat on his plate. Merfolk had no writings, and he only knew the shape of human symbols, not their meanings. The red-haired man smirked around his mouthful. Harry looked at him with pity.

Severus stared straight in the boy-prince’s eyes, using his magic to search for a way inside Harry’s mind. It had not worked on the beach, yes, but might have been because he had been trying to force a connection. To Harry, Severus had been a stranger, and for that reason, his mind had shut Severus out. Now, however, safe and sated in his own home, Harry's mind could be more receptive, so long as Severus was subtle.

 _Severus_ , he mouthed, projecting that one thought at Harry in hopes that this time, he will hear. _My name is Severus. Severus._

Harry didn’t stare at Severus’s eyes but at his lips as he mouthed along to the thoughts he was trying to send the prince’s way. Severus was nearly inside; he could feel the thought creep into gaps in Harry's mind.

Percy squinted at Severus’s lips as well “… Sausages?” he guessed.

“Severus,” Harry said, a surprised look in his eyes. Severus nodded, the corners of his mouth lifting a fraction with approval. Harry grinned back. “Your name is Severus,” he repeated, more certain now. “It’s very unusual.”

"What a ridiculous name," Percy said.

Severus lifted a shoulder. _No more ridiculous than “Percy”_. He raised his eyebrow at the man before attacking the strange meat still on his plate.

Percy glanced between Harry and Severus. “I think he just made fun of my name.”

"Sorry, Percy, but I think everyone makes fun of your name."

 

* * *

 

As the plates were being cleared away, and the mangled pile of offensively sweet “dessert” was removed from Severus’s sight, Harry leaned over the table and said, "Would you like a tour of my home?”

Severus wiggled his toes. The soft insides of the shoes he had been given did not ease the pain. The thought of standing up, much less walking up and down for who knew how long, was almost as dreadful as the actual pain he would feel. The prince smiled as he waited for an answer.

Severus nodded his head.

“Excellent,” Harry said, rising to his feet. He helped Severus out of his seat.

Percy jumped up. “Prince Harry—“

“Mind, it’s small,” Harry continued, guiding Severus out of the dining room with a hand on Severus’s arm. “Compared to Godric’s Hollow, this is a cottage, but it’s cozy and all mine.”

He led them into a large room down the hall. It was mostly empty space, with a few tables and chairs pushed against the gilded walls, but the wooden floor gleamed like polished glass, reflecting the sunlight into Severus’s eyes.

"First, because it's the closest, is the ballroom." Harry pointed up to the ceiling. “Up there is a mosaic my mother made.”

Severus looked up and felt his body grow cold. A scene of the last Golden Days spread out above the ballroom floor. Golden shards of the Trident lined the edge of the circular mosaic, its sharp points turned inward. In the very center stood the First King, his arms open to embrace the oceans. Sharks and whales, tiny sea angels and beautiful mermaids surrounded the King. All were smiling and swimming fin to tentacle to arm, even as the darkness had already begun to creep in.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it,” Harry said.

“The Princess Lily had great imagination,” Percy joined in.

 _Imagination?_ Severus’s mouth twisted. The First King was one of their greatest tales. What was Lily _thinking_ , plastering their stories on human walls?

Harry tugged Severus towards the glass doors that made up the room’s south-facing wall and out onto a stone balcony lined with green plants and hard benches. To the left, connected to the balcony by a walkway held dozens of feet about the water, stood a lone watchtower, pale against the dark blue expanse of the ocean.

“My mother spent a lot of time in Summercliffs,” Harry said. He ran a hand over the brown stones. “I think that’s why—“ He stopped himself and turned away. He swallowed. “Why I like spending so much time here, too. This place is all that I have of her.”

Severus’s throat tightened as the boy-prince fell silent.

Percy drew closer. “Perhaps, if you’re planning to entertain your… guest, you should stick to lighter topics, my prince?”

Harry blinked before nodding his head. “You’re probably right.” He straightened and gave Severus a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. “We can go down to the library. My mother wasn’t much of a scholar, but she added a lot of books to the collection here.”

In the distance, dark clouds rolled over the calm waters. Severus squinted. Even from a distance, he could see that there was something unnatural about the way the clouds folded in on themselves.

“Or maybe the town?” Percy said. “The local taverns cater mostly to sailors, but there a few places—“, he looked out over the water, “—that are suitable…”

Harry frowned. “That storm is moving awfully fast.”

The black clouds slid and tumbled over the waves, crashing against the land. Severus could smell the grease and decay as it blew closer. His head tilted back as a sound bounced off the cliffs. His body went cold when he realized that what he was hearing was his own Voice in the wind, and it was fueling the storm.

Severus grabbed the boy-prince’s wrist and pulled him back towards the ballroom. Harry struggled against him, pulling back. “Stop! What are you doing?”

 _Saving your life!_ Severus grabbed Percy by the arm and started running as fast as he was able while in pain and dragging a pair of imbeciles.

“Harry!” Percy said. Black fog, undeterred by the 50 or so feet between the water to the balcony, rose up like a wave and settled over the stones at their feet. The cold, putrid wisps curled around their ankles. Tiny ice balls began to fall, pelting them as they tried to reach shelter. The Voice grew louder in Severus’s ears.

They ducked their heads and ran, diving through the open doors. A ball of ice the size of Severus’s fist smashed through the glass.

Severus pushed the Prince behind him and and threw his arms out at the side, shielding both Harry and his irritating steward from the unnatural storm trying to creep its way inside. The tendrils of black fog were like long, bony hands clawing at the glossy floors for its prey.

 _Stay back!_ Severus pushed his magic at the fog in hopes of driving the magic out. The Voice in the wind, perhaps sensing its master, faltered and grew silent at the push and the fog began to recede.

Harry rushed forward to shut the doors, only to be held back by Percy. Severus slammed the doors shut against the smell and the darkness as a hundred voices that began to Wail in his Voice’s place, the sound of their misery shaking the walls of the boy-prince’s home.

The ice balls grew larger, cracking the stone and breaking the windows. They backed away from the windows, unable to do little more than watch in horror as ice balls the size of men crashed against the stone walkway and into the roof of the watchtower.

“I’ve never seen it hail like this,” Percy said in a weak voice as another boulder of ice smashed into the stone, sending plants and chunks of stone into the waters below. “Is this even natural?”

Severus felt his stomach clench. _Of course not_. The watchtower sank from view as more ice crashed its way into the room, forcing them to retreat into the hall. _There was nothing_ natural _about this._


	4. In which there is a Tour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the very long wait. I have not yet learned how to deal with deadlines longer than a day. Also, it might still be riddled with typos.

_In which there is a Tour of the country, a story told in the night, a fear confirmed, and attempts made on the lives of both the Prince and the Merman..._

 

* * *

 

Severus's bed for the night was the softest, whitest thing he had ever seen, with cool, smooth sheets and plushy stuffing that threatened to smother him to death with comfort. He lay down and sank into the sheets with a sigh, feeling the bed soothe his aches, from the scratches and the mild sunburn to the unceasing foot pain. His body had found the rest it had been crying for.

His mind, however, found the calm respite the perfect moment to contemplate on matters to the point that the thoughts were grinding against Severus's skull and eating away at his stomach lining. Hearing his Voice in the storm had frightened him. That had been _his_ magic the witch had been using, _his_ powers she was now twisting for her own gain. He had no way of knowing if Krum had reached the King, no means of contacting any of his people without a ship to take him to deep waters.

He stared up at the dark canopy as the candle by his bed guttered and extinguished. The dim moonlight and the nighttime silence only intensified his fears, allowing them to echo in the darkness. With an angry huff, he pushed the sheets away.

The pain of just setting his feet on the floor left Severus breathless, but for a brief moment, his mind was empty of worry, leaving only a panic-fueled plan and bitter fury in its wake. The witch had diminished him, but it was still _his_ magic she was wielding like a reckless, thoughtless child, and he could not rest until he took it back.

He opened the doors leading out to the room's narrow balcony and took a deep breath. The winds blowing over the waters smelled briny and cold, a pale substitute for the taste of the shallows and the chill of the deep. A bit of the witch's foul magic still lingered like an unexpected aftertaste that sticks to the back of his throat. He braced himself against the short stone wall separating him and the long, steep drop to the shoreline and stared out at the black, restless ocean.

_Albus must be beside himself_ , he thought, watching as the waves grow choppier. Severus hoped that, at the very least, Krum had done as he had asked.

He contemplated on stealing a boat to send a message to the King, despite having no idea as to how to actually sail the thing. Perhaps if he could persuade the prince into a bit of sailing, he considered before shaking his head at his own ridiculous ideas.

Severus slipped his feet into the pair of soft shoes by his bed and strolled out of the room, ostensively for a walk to clear his head. Some small part of him, however, yearned for the water. He wanted to feel it wash over him and take away his worries as it scraped at his transformed body.

Severus walked down the hallways and corridors, his shoes slapping on the wooden floors, in search for the way down to the shoreline. Framed portraits of dark-haired men and women, their features blurred in the darkness, watched as Severus walked in one direction, only to be forced to turn around and try the other.

_This house had not been this difficult to navigate in the daylight_. He passed yet another gray-green chair. Granted, one of the prince's servants, or Prince Harry himself, had always been on hand to guide him from one room to the next, but the night had turned the place into a maze.

A stairway led him into a corridor with all its north-facing windows covered over with canvas. The floors had been swept clear of shards of glass, but Severus could still see the dents and splinters from where the hail had smashed into the wood.

Severus walked along the wall, thankful for what small protection the soft half-shoes gave. At the end of the corridor, a flickering light shown through an open doorway. _How else could be awake at this hour?_ He slunk towards the light and glimpsed inside.

Prince Harry sat in a large, cushy chair with a lit candle set on the table at his side. The chair's high, cradling sides hid most of his body from view, and the thick fur blanket draped over his lap hid the rest. _No, not a blanket_ , Severus realized as the "blanket" stretched out its legs and yawned, revealing a mouth full of white teeth. Harry stroked his dog's back as it curled back up, its nose tucked somewhere near Harry's stomach.

Severus paused, a hand on the doorframe, the silence of the night making him hesitant.

Harry glanced over the side of his chair and squinted. "Severus?" he said, his voice no louder than a whisper. The dog lifted his head and glared at Severus. Harry patted the dog's head. "Couldn't sleep?" He tilted his head back towards the empty chair beside him. "You can join me if you want."

Severus stepped into the room, one eye on the dog in case it decided to attack again. It, however, ignored him in favor of cuddling closer to its owner. Somewhat reassured, Severus gingerly settled into the matching chair beside the boy-prince's, not quite comfortable with leaning into the cushioned back.

"Don't worry," Harry said. "Sirius will behave this time, won't you, Sirius?" He rubbed the giant dog's side, which made the beast's tail thump against the side of the chair. "See?"

Severus stared at the dog with half-lidded eyes. _Somehow I doubt that_. Aside from the two chairs and the table, the small room did not look like it had much to offer. A tall, narrow set of shelves by the door held a few hardpocks, a tiny model of a ship, and little else. A portrait of a couple hung over the cold fireplace in front of them. The indirect candlelight cast everything in faint, warm light and deep shadows.

Harry spotted Severus staring up at the painting. "I wouldn't bother even squinting at it," he said. "It's a very ugly painting."

_Is that so._ Severus picked up the candle after a slight nod from Harry and rose to take a closer look. The painting was, in fact, not of a couple but of a trio. The man, dressed in blues and whites, stood on the left, a piece of cloth wrapped around his neck that, judging from his expression, was choking him. The woman, in pale clothing with her neck and shoulders bared, had a twist in her lips so severe that the white-swaddled monkey in her arms must had just urinated.

"I keep it here because no one else can stomach it." Harry's mouth turned downward in a similar fashion to the woman's. "Especially my father." He stroked his dog's back. "It was the last portrait we sat together for before Mother died."

Severus's body went cold at the words. He knew. In some sad, miserable corner in his mind, he _knew_ that Lily was gone. He sucked in a breath, closing his eyes against the thoughts in his head. He'd be a fool to ignore how the prince and his steward talked about her and the home she loved. However, he apparently _was_ enough of a fool that believed if he didn't hear it said outright, he could still hold on to the belief that she would walk into the room at any moment and smile at him like she did when they were children.

_How_ , he mouthed. He pressed a hand against the wall and bowed his head. _How did she die?_

"Which makes it a shame that it's so ugly, I guess," Harry said. "Everyone said that she was very beautiful." Harry ran a slow hand over his dog's fur. He looked up at Severus. "Do you…" His question died on his lips. "Is something wrong?"

Severus took another deep breath and pushed his shoulders back. He struggled to school his features, but his lips refused to stop trembling and his eyes were beginning to tear up. He shook his head "no".

Harry stood, pushing his dog off onto the floor, and placed a hand on Severus's forearm. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice low and sincere.

He wanted to turn away, to keep the boy-prince from seeing him affected this way, but he needed to know. _How did she die?_ , he mouthed, staring into Harry's eyes. _Please tell me_. He touched Harry's shoulder, hoping that the boy-prince could hear Severus's thoughts. That he would understand.

Harry's eyes darted back and forth across Severus's face. "She died when I was a baby," he said in a quiet voice. "I don't remember it, but everyone says that she was walking with me on the cliffs when the ground crumbled underneath us and we fell." Harry lowered his head. He touched the jagged scar on his forehead. "That was how I got this scar."

Severus tried to swallow down his tears. _A fall_.

"My father—". Harry bit his lower lip as he looked down. The dog sat up on his haunches by his master's feet, its eyes large and wet. Harry ruffled the fur on the top of its head. "He was the one to find us, and sometimes, I think it broke him. Sometimes, he would tell me that a 'dark wizard' did it, but—" The dog nudged its nose into Harry's palm. He shook his head. "He hates that I come here, but this place is all that I have of her." He gave Severus a sad, rueful smile. "Sad, isn't it."

Severus squeezed Harry's shoulder, but Harry drew away. "Come on," he said. He took the candle with a soft touch. "I'll walk you back to your room." The dog trotted after him, its nails clicking on the wood with each step.

Severus spared one more glance at the portrait. Aside from the red hair and green eyes, the woman in the painting looked nothing like the Lily in his memories. At the same time, he find himself unable to look away.

"Severus?" Harry's head tilted to the side. The candlelight fell across his cheeks and nose, painting his skin gold.

Severus spared one last glance at his lost friend, bowing his head before turning away.

 

* * *

 

Severus woke just after dawn, flailing his arms and legs and kicking at the sheets before remembering the events of the day before. He poked at his legs, his groggy mind reluctant to accept the situation a second time.

The servant from the day before came into the room while the sky was still an ambiguous pale yellow with a bundle of black cloth hanging from his arms. He manhandled Severus through an unnecessary series of ablutions and into another set of overly-complicated black clothing before leading Severus down several flights of stairs and down a long corridor to a large room on the other side of the house.

Percy was pacing back and forth beside the two large windows across from the door, silently counting things off with his fingers. The sun shining through the windows cast his features in shadows. His clean, neatly-pressed clothes only emphasized the pale, haggard look on his face.

The servant that led Severus hardly finished bowing before retreating from the room. Another servant, a sharply-dressed man, stood by the wall, keeping silent vigil over the long table in the center of the room and the smaller table set against the wall.

On the table were plates of food, much of which Severus had never seen and was, quite frankly, afraid to try. However, near the end, tucked between a bowl of dry gray granules and a lightly-steaming pitcher of milk, were three thick slabs of salmon.

Severus leaned forward, his mouth watering at the sight. The salmon looked dry and smelled of salt and fruit, but he didn't care. He had been so hungry for something familiar, even bastardized fish was better than no fish at all.

"We wait," Percy said behind him. Severus straightened. The steward stared back, his back stiff and his fingers still trembling and counting nothing. "For Prince Harry."

_This isn't my first time around royalty_. Severus glared at him, but Percy ignored the look, returning to his fretting and pacing. Severus sneered at his back and went back to staring at the salmon with ill-concealed longing.

Harry arrived, fresh and bright-eyed and looking nothing like the somber, quiet insomniac from the night before. He gave the servant by the food table a smile.

Percy stepped away from the windows, his hands clasping behind his back. "Good morning, my prince."

"Good morning, Percy, Severus." He took his seat at the head of the large table. He gave the steward a once-over. "You look especially relaxed today."

"Word should be reaching His Majesty soon," Percy said, grabbing hold of the back of a chair and leaning forward before pushing away and resuming his pacing. "The labourers from the village have already started on today's repairs, but it will be impossible for them to rebuilt the watchtower. Not without His Majesty's support, and it's common knowledge—"

"My father will support us," Harry said. "This was my mother's home, and he would never let it fall apart, no matter how much it pains him to come here." The servant served the prince first before placing a similar meal in front of Severus. The fish looked so forlorn on its plate in the far right corner, usurped from its proper place by a bowl of gray goop topped with fruit.

"Have you forgotten, my prince, all the time and work you had put into bringing Summercliffs back to its former beauty?" Percy stilled enough to look at his prince in the eye. "All the money? It took almost an entire year, and it was through _your_ efforts that made it possible."

"He did not discourage me." Harry spooned up some of his gray slop and started eating. Severus took that as his cue and followed suit by tearing a chunk out of the dry salmon with the pronged utensil. The meat was as dry as he feared, flaky and salted to the point of rendering the meat's subtle taste nonexistent. He let what taste there was left melt on his tongue.

Percy huffed but did not contradict Harry, settling instead for flopping down into his seat and fuming silently.

Harry put his spoon down. "You'll see, Percy," he said. "Summercliffs is as important to him as it is to me. He wouldn't let it fall apart a second time." He glanced over at Severus's plate. "You don't like porridge, Severus?"

Severus glared at the mush sitting untouched in front of him. He pursed his lips and scooped up some of the grainy muck into his mouth. The sweetened, leaden mush coated his tongue as he struggled to chew, nearly choking as he swallowed it down.

Percy snorted, letting out a snicker from behind his hand.

Harry shot him a glare, silencing him, before giving Severus a wide-eyed look. "Um, would you like to come with me to the village later?" he said. "I haven't been there in a while, and since Percy will be busy with the repairs, I'll have only Sirius for company."

Percy lowered his spoon. "My prince, I hardly think this is the time to--"

"What do you say?" Harry said, cutting his steward off.

Severus nodded before Percy could protest further. Even knowing that the prince's ill-mannered beast would be joining them would stop him from refusing such an offer. He set his utensils down.

"Excellent," Harry said, smiling so wide, Severus couldn't help smiling back just as warmly.

Percy started to cough and gag on his drink.

"We'll set off in an hour in the dog cart," Harry said.

 

* * *

 

Severus glared at the ass of the horse pulling the small cart, debating with himself on whether he had made a mistake in accepting the prince's offer. The village, he had been told, was "not very far", a few miles to the north of the prince's home and right along the shoreline. After ten minutes in the cart, however, the boy-prince's company and their sun-dappled adventure in the greater world of human life did little to comfort him. Knowing Lily was gone had taken off what little shine the human world had left, and the combination of uneven road and horseshit was making his stomach churn.

Harry had not stopped smiling since they had set out. The sun brought a blush to his cheeks and a glow to his eyes that had been missing the night before. Severus leaned back and tried to focus on the boy-prince's reddened lips and his hair curling around his ears instead of the ankle-biting dog sitting right between them on the narrow wooden seat, its head held high and its tongue hanging out from the corner of its mouth.

Harry moved the reins to one hand and gave the dog a scratch behind its ear, sending it into a tail-thumping fit. Severus sneered at the beast. _What is the point_ , he groused, _of spending time alone with Harry when he gives all his attention to_ you _, you slobber-covered monstrosity_.

The dog bared its teeth at Severus and let out a nasty, self-satisfied "wuff".

"Are you being a good boy, Sirius?" Harry said, rubbing the dog's head hard. It barked and jumped up to lick at Harry's face. The dog cart rocked to one side; Severus gripped the sides and felt his insides leap up into his throat.

Harry let out a peal of laughter as he playfully pushed the dog away. He slid his hand underneath it and smoothly scooped it out of the seat and into the boxed-in area in the back. The dog, recovering quickly, turned around and tried to leap back between them. "No, no," Harry said, pushing the dog's head back. "You're going to stay back there before you run us off the road." He glanced up at Severus and the bright smile slid away in place for something more somber.

"You, uh." He cleared his throat. "You're looking a bit green."

Severus tried to wave his hand as if to brush aside the concern, but his fingers would not uncurl. _I'm not exactly used to…_ He let out a breath, his shoulders lifting and his hand clenched. _This_. He struggled to compose himself, but his stomach refused to settle.

"Do you want me to stop the cart? The village isn't much further, but if you need to—"

Severus shook his head. _I'm fine_ , he tried to say, even as his jaw clenched tighter. He straightened his back and stared forward past the horse and towards the buildings in the distance, but that actively made the nausea worse. With one hand on the back of the seat and another on the front of the cart, he leaned over the side and spewed the contents of his stomach out onto the road.

The cart rumbled to a halt as he slumped over the side, his face burning with illness and shame. Harry gently rubbed Severus's back. "Better out than in?" The dog huffed out a laugh; Severus glared at the beast.

"Here," Harry said, holding out a white cloth square. Severus took it with as much grace as he could muster and wiped the spittle off his lips and chin. "Are you feeling better? We can go back if you'd like."

Severus dragged himself straight, shaking his head. He balled the cloth in his hand and pointed at the village with the other.

"You still want to go?"

_Of course I still want to go_ , he thought at the prince. _A bit of spew should not be enough to detain us._

"But, if you're sick…"

_I am_ not _sick_ , Severus thought, shaking his head once before the lingering nausea made him reconsider moving any more. _Ill from the motion, yes_. He jerked his hand towards the village before thumping the front of the cart. _Now, get this contraption moving_.

Harry stared at Severus before shrugging his shoulders and sighing. "If you insist," he said as he flicked the reins to get the horse moving. "At least we're nearly there."

 

* * *

 

The village was much larger than its name had implied. Buildings two or three times Severus's height lined the narrow-stone-covered roads in uniform rows, their white-washed facades broken up by painted doors and strings of brightly-colored cloth hanging overhead. The smell of brine blew in from the harbor. The masts of a dozen or so ships rose above the terracotta rooftops.

Harry left the cart with an overly-familiar young man with thin blond hair and too much teeth, and led the way down the narrow, winding streets and straight into an open-air market square.

Severus turned his head from side to side, feeling overwhelmed as he tried to take it all in. Stalls and stalls of food and trinkets pushed up against the walls and around the central fountain. Red, green, and orange fruit shared space with bolts of cloth longer than Severus was tall. Crates full of cod and halibut and crab sat at the feet of a leathery-skinned man in a dark apron as he grunted and struggled with an octopus. A young girl no older than the prince stood behind rows and rows of yellow loaves of bread. Children ran underfoot, chasing each other in the labyrinth created by wood and cloth and more humans than Severus had ever seen. He could feel himself grow a bit dizzy.

"Harry!" A round, bald man with too much facial hair sat at a table outside, waving a heavy mug in the air. "Over here, my boy!"

Harry grinned widely. "Captain! You're still in town?" The smile faded a bit. "And drinking."

"Not much else to do when I no longer have a ship to sail, is there, friend." The captain gulped down whatever was in his mug. He gave the dog a scratch behind its ear. "The old man's been shuffling his feet on the whole business."

Severus looked off into the distance. The people in the square ambled from one end to the other. A crowd gathered in front of a pretty woman pouring out a foamy drink. A trio of men played music with their backs to the harbor beyond. A boy with white-blond hair and a familiar pointy face walked through the crowds, his head head high.

_Draco?_ Severus wandered a few steps forward, jutting his head out to catch a better glimpse at the blond-haired boy's face. Spotting a bit of white-blond in the distance, he started walking briskly in the direction the boy took, swerving around a group of women and nearly stepping on a child in his haste.

He reached out and grabbed the boy by the shoulder just as the they reached the outlying stalls, spinning him around.

"Hey!" the boy, no, the girl cried. She jerked out of his grasp. "What's the matter with you?"

Severus quickly smothered his initial shock with a sharp twist of his lips. He sneered as the girl stomped off and turned to return to Harry, only to find that he had wandered off much farther than he had thought, unintentionally losing sight of the prince in the crowd.

He started off in the direction he thought he had come from, passing hanging meat links and jewelry sparkling in the sunlight, when a hand grabbed him by the arm and shoved him hard into a darkened alley.

Severus stumbled and fell to his knees, scraping the palms of his hands on the ground. He rose, struggling to get his feet underneath him, but his assailant was already there, dragging him up by his clothes and tossing him against the wall.

"Severus," she said, her body blocking the way out. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face. She pulled an obsidian dagger out of the folds of loose-fitting clothing she wore.

_Minerva?!_

"What are you doing on land, Severus?" she said, her green eyes flashing. "Did you fashion yourself those legs before the storm, or was that just a happy accident?"

Severus stooped slightly, lifting his empty hands up in the air. _That storm was not my doing!_

She pointed the knife towards his belly. "Did you think that we would not Hear you? That your little storm will go unnoticed? The entire ocean is searching for you as we speak." She pushed him back by the shoulders, closing the distance between them. The knife hovered below his jaw. "Legs or not, you will answer for what you have done."

_Look at me, Minerva!_ He held very still. _I have no Voice! My fin was torn from me! I'm not the one you're looking for!_

The knife's tip slipped into his soft skin, drawing out a droplet of blood. "Stay out of my head," she hissed.

"Get away from him!"

Harry stood at the exit of the alley, his hands balled into fists. His massive dog growled, raising its hackles and baring its teeth.

Minerva pulled away and held her knife out, the flat of the blade against her arm. "I have no quarrels with you," she said, her free hand held out to placate. Her knees bended slightly. "This is none of your affair."

"He's under my protection," Harry said, taking a step forward.

She eyed the boy-prince and the dog prowling towards her. Her knife did not lower. "You have no idea the sort of man you're protecting," she said just as the dog rushed towards her, its salivating mouth open and its teeth glistening. She sidestepped the attack and ran out of the alley.

Both the prince and his dog took chase, barking and yelling and dodging through the crowd after her. "Stop her!" Harry cried, pointing at Minerva's back before crashing into a barrel of potatoes.

Severus helped the boy-prince to his feet. The dog's barks continued off in the distance, accompanied by men shouting nonsense above the din. He smoothed his hand over Harry's hair and clothes, brushing away the dirt.

Harry scowled, glaring towards where Minerva and his dog had disappeared, before taking a good look at Severus's face.

"You're bleeding," he said, wiping at blood on the underside of Severus's jaw.

Severus shook his head. _Barely a scratch_. He stared in the prince's eyes. _I've been cut worst_ , o _ften by my own hand_. He took Harry's hand. _Are_ you _alright?_

"My prince!" a man shouted, jogging towards them. He panted, catching his breath as he bowed. "I'm sorry, my prince. The woman you were chasing. We can't find her. It's like she vanished."

His dog padded up to Harry, its giant head bowed. Harry frowned but nodded his head at the man. "Thank you." He gave the beast a scratch behind the ears. "It's alright, Sirius. I know you did your best."

"Who was that?" the man said.

Harry glanced at Severus before shaking his head. "I do not know. Severus?"

Severus shook his head as well. Even with a voice, he would not reveal her name. Attempt on his life aside, they were allies, whether she saw it that way or not.

Harry stared at Severus for a long moment before turning back to the man. "Let the warden know to keep a lookout. I don't want someone else ending up on her blade."

The man saluted the boy-prince and moved a few steps away to speak to another, similarly-dressed man close by.

Harry let out a weak little huff. "This day isn't going well at all."

Severus huffed. _That's one way of phrasing it_.

Harry bit his lower lip. He tugged at Severus's sleeve, pulling him out of the marketplace, the dog trotting along behind them, its nose low.

 

* * *

 

Severus ran his fingertips over his cheeks and nose, feeling the heat rising from the tight, sunburned skin.

"When we get home" Harry said, all tight smiles as he let the horse ambled its way north, pulling their cart along, "I'll find you some of the cream Percy uses when he gets burned in the sun." The dog dozed in the back, its nose tucked close to its tail. "You'll still peel, but it won't hurt as badly."

Severus looked out at the ocean stretched out alongside the road. The flat, rocky land bore only superficial resemblance to the jagged cliffs by Harry's home. Here, the choppy waves slumped its way up the sand, nearly touching the grassy dunes, before stumbling over the rocks and back to the sea. Inland, straight green lines cut and curved the earth, the miles of greenery dotted here and there with squat brown buildings and red-roofed towers.

He readjusted his position on the hard, wooden seat, careful to allow his feet as little physical contact with the floor of the cart as possible. He leaned back, his legs spread out and bend at the knees while his feet rested, ankles crossed, on their outer sides.

Harry glanced down at Severus's feet before his head jerked up. "Do you mind holding the reins for a bit?" he said as he thrust the ropes into Severus's hands.

Severus barely managed grabbing hold of the reins in time. Harry bent forward and went to work yanking off his boots and socks, nearly tumbling backwards into the cart in his enthusiasm.

Harry dumped the footwear into the cart and lifted a foot into the air. He wiggled his toes and let out a sigh.

Severus stared at the prince's foot, suddenly mesmerized by the thick, boxy toes and the shallow inner arch.

"You can take your shoes off, too," Harry said. He straightened. "Wait." He took back the reins and pulled the horse to a stop.

A short distance away, mostly hidden by a gray, run-down hut and rock outcroppings, was a deep, grass-rimmed lagoon. Right at the shoreline stood the remains of a stone wall barely ankle-high, separating the lagoon from the sea.

Harry hopped out and slowly lead the horse off the road and onto the sand dunes. He tied the reins to a piece of wood hanging off the hut. The dog rose its head at the lost of motion.

"Sirius, keep an eye on the cart." Harry walked to Severus's side of the cart. "You're coming, yes?" he said with a grin before traipsing through the high grasses at the water's edge.

Severus stepped out of the cart slowly, his eyes on the prince as he admired how bright Harry looked against the colorful greenery and the dark blue water.

"They call it the Mermaid's Lagoon," Harry said, picking his way through the waist-high grasses. He pointed to a large willow tree at the far end of the lagoon. Its pale green branches hung over the waters. "Over there is her boudoir." He waved a hand at the thick bulrushes growing around him. "This is her sitting room. And there," he took a step towards the stone wall, "is her kitchen. They say she would sing and enchant the fish to jump into her hands for her supper."

Severus eyed the choppy seas as the waves crashed hard against the little stone wall.

"Father said he's met a mermaid," Harry said in a soft voice. The water lapped at his ankles. "That she was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen." He shook his head. "But it's hard to take what he says seriously." He stared at the shadows hidden behind the willow tree branches.

Severus stepped into the shallows and moved to stand beside Harry. Mud squished underneath him. Water seeped into his shoes with every step, the cold water numbing the pain. His shoulders brushed against Harry's.

Harry turned, staring first at Severus's face and then down at Severus's feet. "You— You've ruined your shoes."

Severus shrugged, unconcerned. The softness of the shoes and the coldness of that water had reduced the constant pain to near-nothing. He eyed a dark shadow in the water underneath the willow branches. Harry's fingers ghosted against Severus's.

The waves grew stronger, smashing hard against the stone wall, pulling Harry's attention away from Severus's fingers. "Percy says I shouldn't trust you," he said quietly. "Sirius barely stands you. And now…" He bowed his head. "Is that something you shouldn't tell someone you growing to like? That you don't trust them?"

The shadow under the willow tree grew darker and closer. The smell of decay and death wafted over the water.

Severus grabbed hold Harry's hand and pulled him towards dry land. Harry, however, pulled back just as strongly, refusing to move. "What is it?"

Severus pointed at the shadows, opening his mouth to speak. The black mass in the water jerked for a moment before surging up into a high wave of sludge and death seconds away from crashing on top of both of them.

"What is that—" Harry cried as Severus pushed the prince behind him. He threw his other arm out and up, raising a wall of water to protect them.

The black wave crashed against the wall, sending bone-shaking vibrations up Severus's arm, but the wall held. For a moment, Severus was certain that it would hold. Diminished or not, his magic was stronger than this putrid show of force. Then he heard his Voice, thin and high, and he could feel the wall weakening.

No, the _wall_ wasn't weakening. The witch was using his Voice to drain his magic _away_.

He shoved Harry as far away as he could seconds before the wall of water broke and the black sludge crashed upon him. It dragged him into the water, pulling him into the depths before tossing him up and out.

"Severus!" he could hear in the distance. He tried to hold his arm out, to keep the boy-prince away or to grab hold, he could not be sure, but his strength failed him. The lagoon water filled his mouth, poisoned and rotten on his tongue. He succumbed to the darkness coating his eyes and dragging him away.


	5. In which there is a Visitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The penultimate chapter. There is a lot of Severus nearly drowning...

_In which there is a Visitor or two, a thaw in merfolk-canine relations, a messenger from an unexpected source, and a sacrifice made for the sake of love..._

 

* * *

One of the first stories Severus learned as he clung remora-like to his mother's teat was the story of the Trident and the First King. There were a few different versions—the one Severus heard included a great sea serpent and seven jewels—but the simplest one went like so:

Long ago, when the seas were newly-formed, there lived the First King, a wise merman with hair the color of the shallows and skin as dark as the depths. His subjects loved him, for he was kind and just, and the seas were peaceful and pure under his rule.

There was, however, one creature that did not love the King. It was a heartless monster with an insatiable hunger and a hundred mouths full of thousands of tar-black teeth. Born on land, it turned its attentions to the seas. Its sludge-like body soon devoured everything that crossed its path, leaving only dead water in its wake.

The First King swam out to fight this beast head-on, but it was much too strong for him to defeat alone. The monster beat the King down, poisoning him with its rancor and tearing his body apart with its many teeth.

As the King, too, became fodder for the monster, he began to hear something resonate through the water. The Voices of a million devoured souls began to vibrate through the monster's miasmic body. " _Please_ ," they begged, their words ringing pure and deep, " _set us free!_ "

With the last of his strength, the King reached out to them, and the souls, the million shining Voices, transformed into sharp golden shards. They shredded the monster from the inside out and rushed to the King's hand.

The shards combined and took the form of a Trident, golden and vibrant with righteous power. Its light, the light of a million souls, blasted the heartless monster to ashes as the King exhaled his last breath.

* * *

 

Severus sank into darkness, the witch's magic wrapped tightly around his body and coating him with its poison. He fought against it, but blinded and paralyzed, he had no way of knowing if his body was scraping against the shallow bottom or floating into the reeds.

 _Harry!_ he cried, pushing the thought forward with what little magic he had left. A tiny ripple wobbled out before the surrounding darkness absorbed it. He choked on the sludge filling his mouth. _Harry!_

Something—a hand? a foot?—brushed against Severus's arm, breaking through. At the touch, the witch's magic fizzled away, and his senses returned like needles of ice being driven into his skin. It left Severus lying belly-down in the silt, grass filling his mouth and sand scratching his eyes.

A giant black paw stomped down an inch away from his nose; Harry's gigantic dog began to trample up and down his back. _Get away, you hairy beast!_ Severus tried to roll and shove the prince's dog away, but while the witch's black hold on his senses had been broken, the paralysis was still very much in place.

"Severus!" he heard Harry above him, the water muffling and distorting his voice. The dog jumped off Severus's back to trot dangerously close to his head.

 _Harry!_ He reached out towards the prince; neither his hands nor his magic gave so much as a twitch. He sighed as arms wrapped themselves around his torso and heaved him out of the lagoon.

Water, sand, and bits of grass poured out of Severus's mouth and over Harry's arms as the prince hauled Severus back to dry land. Severus's useless legs dragged behind them, his shoes snagging on rocks and reeds.

They fell onto the sand, Harry panting and collapsing over Severus's limp body. Harry ran his hands up and down Severus's body in a fast, frantic manner. "Come on," he said, his face pale and the corners of his eyes tight. He patted color into Severus's cheeks before sliding his hands over Severus's neck and tilting Severus's head back. He placed his ear close to Severus's mouth. His hands burned against Severus's skin.

The wretched dog leapt onto Severus's stomach, pawing and shoving the prince back with its massive body. It started attacking Severus's face with its repulsive tongue, swiping it all over Severus's mouth, eyes, and cheeks.

"Sirius, stop it!" Harry shoved the beast back, but the dog refused to obey, ducking underneath its master's arm to continue its revolting assault.

Severus's face began to tingle from all the bacteria the dog was slobbering onto his skin. Vomit filled his mouth and gurgled out the sides of his slack mouth.

Harry pushed the dog away and quickly turned Severus onto his side. His green eyes widened in horror as a black sludge poured out of Severus's mouth and seeped into the sand. The grasses by Severus's head bowed and cracked as sludge coursed up from the roots through its veins. It withered the plants to blackened husks in a matter of seconds.

Harry recoiled at the sight, falling down on his backside. Severus coughed. The remnants of the witch's magic sputtered out of his mouth and onto his chin.

"What is that?" Harry said, slowly crawling over Severus's chest. His eyes darted from the withered plants to the black flecks of spittle on his face. He reached out with a shaky hand.

The dog wiggled itself between them and rubbed its damn hindquarters in Severus's face before walking all over Severus's stomach. It plopped its wet, musky body on top of him, tucked its head under his chin, and gave Severus's neck a lick, the disgusting beast.

Severus closed his eyes for a moment. If he ever moved again, he was going to skin the slobbering bastard and use its fur to line the insides of his shoes.

Harry's face relaxed. "You're okay," he breathed. He cupped Severus's face, his fingers curling over his neck. Severus blinked back, his face muscles twitching just enough to grimace back.

"Hallo over there!" someone shouted from a distance. "Do you need help?"

"My friend nearly drowned in the lagoon," Harry shouted back, pushing himself to his feet. "A wave came and knocked him off his feet."

"A wave?" a second voice said. "In the lagoon? Sure a mermaid didn't drag him down instead?"

The two passers-by, a couple of fishermen by the smell of fish guts and brine clinging to their rough clothing, helped Harry half-drag, half-carry Severus to the back of the cart. Every step of the way, the prince's stupid dog ran and jumped its way underfoot, twice knocking Severus out of their hands to lick at whatever bit of exposed skin it could reach.

They eased Severus's limp body onto the wooden planks. Harry cradled the back of his head before settling it down on a thin blanket that reeked of wet dog. The sunlight stung his eyes, and the dog's saliva had shudders racing up and down his body. His head felt as if it was being twisted in a vice, and his bowels were no better. The witch's magic had done a number on him and no mistake.

However, as Harry's hand lingered over Severus's forehead, he did not regret his actions. This was the third time that Harry's life had been place in danger because of Severus. If Severus had failed to protect him, Harry would have been like those grasses, little more than a blackened husk on the sand.

Severus felt tears slip out of the corner of his eyes. He tried to give Harry a reassuring smile, the muscles in his face jerking and tensing up painfully from the effort. Harry wiped the wetness away with the corner of the blanket.

The dog, with the sense of timing befitting a idiotic beast, wormed in and pounced right onto Severus's stomach. It rubbed its disgusting wet nose into Severus's cheek, smearing more wetness onto his skin.

Severus clenched his teeth, sighing through his nose. _Oh, fuck off_! The dog sprawled its giant, musty body on top of Severus, settling in and smothering him in its wet fur.

"Sirius, keep him warm," Harry said. The dog woofed and lifted its head up for a pat before tucking its nose underneath Severus's chin. "Don't worry, Severus," he added, his voice softer as the cart started to jolt and sway. "I know a shortcut back."

Severus shut his eyes against the too-bright sky, the bumpy ride and the relentless smell of wet dog fur aggravating the painful shudders coursing through him."You better stay alive, you bastard," someone said, his voice rumbling over the growing roar in Severus's head.

 _Fuck you_ , Severus replied.

* * *

At some point after leaving the lagoon, Severus had been carried, bathed, and tucked into his soft bed by Harry and his men. Much of this was conjecture on Severus's part. He didn't remember much of the cart ride, though he knew every bump on the road from the bruises on his back. There had been shouting and barking at their arrival, and hot cloths rubbed into his skin. He did recall vomiting a second time, along with the disappointment he felt when none of the bile had gotten on the wretched dog.

He sank deeper into the mattress and worked on making the dim, distant world fall back into focus, beginning with the pale orange cloth stretched high above his head. _The canopy_ , he remembered after a moment. As he slept, the late afternoon sun had infused the room with a warm yellow glow. He rested his eyes for a long breath before trying again.

He stretched underneath the light sheets, toes curling and pulling at aching muscles from his feet to his back. His neck creaked as he turned his head to the side. His magic gave a little flicker, spent to the dregs but still lingering on.

He exhaled, his body relaxing at the sight of Harry, dozing in a chair beside his bed. The prince's face and clothes still were dusty from the road. One of his hands lay on top of the white sheets, grime underneath his nails and the callouses red-rough.

Severus's hand shifted over the soft covers. His fingers brushed against Harry's wrist.

There was a knock on the door, startling Severus. Harry jerked awake at the sound while the top of the dog's head popped up from its place at its master's feet. "Come in," Harry said, rubbing at his eyes with a heavy hand.

"My Prince," Percy said, his red hair ruffled and out of place. "Word has come back from the doctor. She might not be able to come tonight." He handed over a folded piece of paper. "An accident by the docks, apparently. No deaths, but quite a few men have been injured."

Harry opened the missive and glanced at the message before handing it back. "Any requests for aid?"

"None so far."

"Find out what you can and send another message to the doctor, asking her to come as soon as she can." The dog rested its head on top of Harry's knees. He gave the dog a scratch behind its ear before patting the beast away. "I can wait here until she comes."

"Don't you think it would be better if you got yourself sorted as well?" Percy said, his voice dropping to a murmur. He turned his back towards Severus and hid lips behind the folded piece of paper. "I can have one of the servants watch over him while you go bathe and eat—"

"What if he succumbs to second drowning, or—?"

"The servant keeping watch over him will let you know if his condition worsens—"

"No, Percy," Harry said, rising to his feet. "He nearly died out there. And, the more I think about it, the more I think he did it to protect me. That thing was coming straight for me and—"

Severus rolled onto his side and up, letting out a pained breath as the movement pinched his sides. It wasn't a complete success—his head, shoulders, and arms too heavy to lift—but he was up. The dog let out a woof that almost sounded relieved and nudged its master towards the bed.

"In a minute, Sirius—Severus!" Harry said, his posture loosening. Severus felt his body fill with vigor a small, relieved smile formed on the prince's face. He lifted his head up and returned the smile, however weakly.

Harry took hold of Severus's hand and sank back into his chair, his eyes never leaving Severus's face. "How do you feel? You're not having trouble breathing?"

He shook his head. He curled his pale fingers around Harry's rough, sun-darkened hand. _I'm tired, but I'm healing_ , he thought, too drained to send the words into Harry's mind. He patted Harry's hand in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. _Don't worry_.

Percy cleared his throat. "I think that, while we wait for the doctor, now would be a good time—"

"I'm staying, Percy," Harry said, his eyes never leaving Severus's face. Severus's face grow hot under the attention.

"At the very least to change out of those clothes," Percy pressed on. "Make yourself presentable for when the doctor comes. And," Percy hesitated. He squared his shoulders. "For when His Majesty your father comes."

Harry looked down at their entwined hands. "You sound like you think he will."

"That's because he is," Percy said. "A messenger arrived just after you returned. His Majesty is to arrive at Summercliffs tomorrow."

Harry looked back at Percy. "Tomorrow? But it takes days to get here from Godric's Hollow."

Percy shrugged, hands outstretched and palms out. "Perhaps he left after hearing about what happened on your birthday and your brush with death?"

"That was over a month ago," Harry said. "If that was true, he would have been here already." He paused. "And you didn't tell me about this sooner why?"

Percy's nose jerked up as his spine stiffened. "You were preoccupied. I didn't want to disturb you."

Harry flushed and looked down at their still-entwined hands for a moment. He ducked his head. "I, um," he looked into Severus's eyes. "I have to go deal with this," he said, his voice soft.

Severus loosened his grip on Harry's hand. Harry rose from the chair, his hand slipping away.

The dog, whether out of spite or maliciousness, took its chance and pounced onto the bed. It dropped its big, furry haunches right on Severus's lap and tilted its head towards its master for a pat.

 _Off!_ Severus gave the dog's back a shove. It didn't budge.

"Now _Sirius_ likes him too?" Percy said, his tone full of disgust.

_He better bloody not!_

"Sirius," Harry said, "you're going to watch over Severus while I go talk to the messenger?"

The dog let out a loud bark. It panted as Harry rubbed the top of its head.

Harry gave Severus's shoulder a squeeze, his eyes darting down to Severus's lips for the thinnest of moments. "I'll be right back." He rubbed his dog's head before walking out of the bedroom, his steward trailing after him.

As soon as the door closed, the dog got back up on its paws and, with a huff and a baring of teeth, settled itself at the foot of the bed.

Severus sneered. _He_ hadn't asked the mangy, flea-bitten, barking sack of carpeting to stay. The dog stared back, a bit of white peeking out from between its black lips, before lowering its head onto its front paws.

Severus ignored the beast and started to wiggle his way out of the bed. From beyond the half-open glass doors came the sound and the scent of the ocean. There was no way down to the water from the balcony—at least none that he had been able to find the night before—but he could stare out at the horizon and taste the salt in the air, or lean again the railing and see if the wind was strong enough to carry his words to the White King.

His stiff knees needed some cajoling and a firm massaging before they would bend, but bend they did. He sighed as his legs eased themselves into motion, only to suck his breath back in as he stood and that now-familiar pain shot up from the soles of his feet.

He wished he had a better plan, or more time. Without his Voice, sending a message through the air was risky at best and useless at worst. Only the capricious winds would guide it, and only the winds knew where it would end up. Sending his message through the water would be, by far, the better solution, but the last time he had been close enough to open water to try had been… at the _lagoon_. He covered his eyes and breathed in, loud and frustrated.

He let out a huff through his teeth. _No matter_. The witch's latest attack had weakened him, but he still had some magic left, whisper-thin and brittle but desperate to be put to good use. It might not be enough to reach Albus, but with everything that had happened in the past two days— _has it truly been only two days?_ —Severus feared he wouldn't survive her next assault regardless of whether he had any magic or none at all.

For that was what it had come down to, he realized as he pulled the sunlight-warmed glass doors open. He must decide if it would be better to fight off the witch's next assault, and possibly die in the attempt, or to give up what remained of his magic on a foolish hope. The dog grumbled and woofed from its spot on the bed as Severus stepped out on the balcony. He filled his lungs with the smell of the ocean. His heart filled with longing for home, for the depths, for the phosphorescent glow of his grotto. His skin trembled, suddenly craving the cold embrace of the sea.

A striped cat jumped up from the other side of the balcony and onto the stone wall, giving Severus a shock. It took a delicate step forward, spotted Severus, and froze, legs tense and tail high in the air. Its black-rimmed eyes narrowed at the sight of him.

 _How did it—_ Severus edged away from the cat, one hand to ward it off the preternatural creature, and peered over the side. A ledge ran along the outside of his balcony. From where he stood, the ledge was no wider than a finger, but as it traced its way towards the side of the building, it grew wide enough to step on. Underneath the ledge, jutting out from the side of the building, was a steep, narrow set of sandstone stairs leading down to a larger balcony.

Severus stared at the steps in disbelief. He was _certain_ those steps were not there the night before. The cat meowed, its tail swinging from side to side.

At the sound, the dog perked up from its spot and jumped off the bed. It peeked its head into the balcony, sniffing the ground before looking up and spotting the cat on the stone wall. Both beasts stopped in their tracks.

The dog charged straight for the intruder, a slobbering growl twisting its mouth. The cat reared back with a hiss, its ears flattening and its body arching. It swiped its claws at the dog's muzzle, but the dog jerked out of the cat's reach just in time and sprung teeth-first at the smaller animal.

The cat, however, was faster and dropped down to the outer ledge to escape. With a snarl, the dog scrambled over the stone wall after it, its claws clacking on the sandstone as it found its footing and rushed after its prey. The cat darted down and jumped onto the railing of the balcony below to escape. It paused for a second only to leap and dash away again as the massive dog careened down the steps after it.

Severus climbed over the wall and, with one hand on the wall and an eye on his footing, crept down the narrow steps. Below, the cat was leading its pursuer from one side of the balcony to the other. It ran under the benches and behind the potted plants, but the dog stayed close behind, snarling and biting at its tail.

They ran to the other side of the balcony and dropped out of sight. Severus stumbled after them, catching sight of the black dog as it ran along the side of the cliff and disappeared behind a white, squat tower.

 _That's the beach!_ Severus scurried down the steps after them, realization quickening his steps. He was looking at it from a different angle, but he recognized this part of the house, having been down there just the day before. It that was the ship he had seen tucked between the now-destroyed balustrades and the white tower, then these were the steps that eventually led into the water! If he squinted, he could even make out the wreckage he had washed up beside.

As he hastened down the sandstone steps, Severus heard a large splash. He found the dog was at water's edge, hopping from one foot to the other and barking at the ocean and its prey gone. He came to a stop at the last dry step; the stairs fanned out into the water for several steps more, each step drawing closer to the deep, dark blue waters surrounding the foot of the stairs. _Deep enough to dive in_ , Severus thought, taking a step into the water.

The dog's barks grew louder. Its head jerked between the horizon and Severus, as if expecting some sort of explanation.

The hems of Severus's thin clothing billowed and floated around him as he strode down to the final step. _Was this where Lily would dive from?_ he thought as he peered into the depths. _Did she ever swim in these waters in her real form, or did she give that up for her new life on land?_

Severus didn't think he would ever willing leave the ocean behind. As he thought this, however, a vision of Harry's face, eyes soft and mouth smiling, came to mind. Harry, whose calloused hands were warm and gentle, who took in and cared for a voiceless stranger, his life was in danger because of Severus. It fell to Severus to make sure Harry stayed safe.

He lowered himself into the bracingly cold water and perched on the edge of the last step. His hands shook as he gathered his magic. The dog's barking grew louder, more frantic as it splashed about behind him.

He wove his thoughts and the last fragments of his power into the tightest, swiftest bit of magic he knew. As he worked, a sharp, freezing pain filled his chest. He pressed a clenched hand against his sternum, squeezed his eyes shut, and slid feet-first into the water.

Whatever else the witch had done, she had not stripped him of his ability to see or breathe underwater. And as Severus took a deep breath underwater, it was almost like returning home. There was, however, a taste to the water here, lingering notes of decaying flesh and stagnant pools, that irritated the back of his throat. The witch's magic had begun to taint these waters as well.

He clung to the edge of the step with one hand and pushed himself deeper. With a tug and a turn of his wrist, he pulled the last of his magic out of his body. He gasped, a couple of bubbles escaping his lips, as his magic took shape in the palm of his hand, leaving behind an ice-laced fissure just behind his heart. The magic solidified into a hot, narrow spike as black as his stolen tail, ready to be sent straight to the White King. Severus pressed the spike flat against his chest to ease the sudden chill that had taken hold of his body.

His lungs began to ache for air. The waters around him grew murky and dim to his eyes. Pressed against his chest was all that remained of his true self, the last of his powers, but also his last hope in reaching Albus and stopping the witch before she could strike again. Unnatural cold seeped through his veins as he held onto the shard for one more second before letting it go. It shot out from the palm of his hand towards open water, vanishing in a blink of an eye.

Severus hauled himself to the surface, gasping and clawing at the sandstone. He gulped back the terror growing in his heart. He had never known the air to taste as good as the waters around his grotto. He had never known air to taste like _life_ until that very moment. His eyes stung from the seawater as he flopped onto the steps and fought to catch his breath.

"You really think that's going to reach the White King," a voice hissed, the sound muffled by the soft lapping of the waves.

Draco peered at him from behind a cluster of large boulders on the other side of the cove, his pale face a blur of white set against the darkening waters. "She has this whole place coated with her spells," he said, pulling himself around one of the boulders to inch closer. "And it's only a matter of time before she gets what she wants."

Severus jerked and dragged his body into something approaching vertical. _And what's in it for you?_ Severus gave the boy his best sneer and pushed his wet hair out of his face. _What about your parents? Wasn't that the only thing you cared about?_ His face contorted with incredulity and outright disgust.

Draco surged forward, his hands outstretched as if to claw out Severus's eyes. "The only thing keeping me from saving my parents," he said through clenched teeth, "is you. Being alive."

 _Is that why you are here, then? To kill me?_ Severus rolled to face him. He spread his arms as much as he could without collapsing. Chest out, belly exposed, all that was missing was the knife. He bared his teeth. _As if you know anything except how to run away._

Draco glowered, his brow furrowing. "Don't worry," he said, pointing a finger at Severus's head, "you're getting what's coming to you soon enough. _She'll_ make sure of that." With that pithy little jibe, he scoffed, turned tail, and dove away. Severus watched him go for a moment before the tension left his body.

He slumped backwards onto the stairs. The dog had run off while Severus was underwater but it hadn't gone far, the faint sound of its mad barking echoing off the cliffs. Dark clouds floated lazily across the yellowing sky; if there were Voices in the air, urging the clouds on, he could no longer hear them. Severus took a deep, shuddering breath and wiped the back of his hand across his stinging eyes.

The fissure just underneath his heart had grown wider, intent on freezing him from the inside, but he mustn't let it. He rolled onto his hands and knees and, arms shaking, heaved himself up to dry land. His thin clothing dragged in the water, weighing him down. He raised a knee to the next step up. It slipped on the fabric, and he fell chin-first into the stone.

Severus collapsed with a breathless groan, the pain bringing tears to his eyes. _On second thought_ , he thought, sprawled out on the steps, _this just might be it_. His cold-stiffening body curled as weariness set into his bones.

"Severus," a woman whispered into his ear.

 _Lily?_ His eyes drifted open, but there was nothing to see but water and stone and darkening sky.

"Severus!"

 _Harry_. Severus sighed, warm relief cutting through the growing chill.

Harry ran down the stairs and fell to his knees in front of Severus, his dog and his steward close behind. "Severus." He grabbed hold of Severus's shoulders, his hands sliding down Severus's arms and back to cradle Severus's face. His hands were like fire on Severus's skin. Severus clutched at Harry's arm.

"Is he breathing?" Percy said, his voice high with shock.

"Yes, but he's ice-cold," Harry said. He tugged at Severus's arm and draped it over his shoulders. "We have to get him back inside."

"What was he even doing out here?" Percy said. "He should be in bed!"

"Now isn't the time to argue, Percy!" Harry wrapped an arm behind Severus's back and pulled Severus up to his feet. They swayed, Severus's dead weight too much for the young prince to handle alone. Percy quickly stepped in and took hold of Severus's other arm. They started the long climb back up to the rest of the house, the dog leading the way.

As they circled the white tower, Severus realized something else had changed: the agony he felt every second he been on his feet was gone, either stripped away with his magic or deadened by the damnable cold.

"I'm serious," Percy said. "Don't you think it _highly_ unusual to find him out here when, not ten minutes ago, he was practically comatose?"

"Now really isn't the time," Harry said over his shoulder.

The dog turned and started barking out towards the water. They stopped their slow ascent. Harry looked up at the black clouds gathering above their heads. "Do you hear that?"

Percy glared at the sky, confused. "What?" The dog started growling. "Sirius?"

"No, not Sirius." Harry tilted his head to the side. "Something else." He squinted out towards the horizon. "Like a voice in the wind."

Severus fumbled to grab hold of Harry, pulling him away from whatever he thought he could hear. _No!_ He smacked his stiff hand on Harry's chest. His fingers snagged on the prince's clothing. _Whatever it is, don't listen to it!_

Harry's arm slipped from Severus's waist as he inched towards the water. "I want to go to sea," he said.

"What?" Percy said, echoing Severus's thoughts. Severus yanked harder on Harry's clothing, but the prince did not react.

"How soon can we get a ship ready?" Harry said instead.

"Well," Percy said, "we'll have to find a crew and a ship—"

"We have a ship," Harry said, looking down at the narrow dock.

"That one was damaged in the storm yesterday—"

"Then get another ready," Harry cut in. "I want to sail by sunset tomorrow." He shrugged Severus's arm off his shoulders and walked past his dog. "Now do your job!"

Severus slumped against Percy, fear gripping his heart. _What did she do?_

"But—His Majesty—My Prince!" Percy shouted after Harry, but his shouts fell on deaf ears. Harry did not look back as he entered the house. "… Of course."

The dog stared balefully at Severus before running off after his master.


	6. In which there is a Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter _(to the end, you beasts, you breathing chum buckets!)_ , followed by a quick epilogue.

_In which there is a ship under attack, an attempted rescue, various identities revealed, and a Kiss of True Love…_

* * *

 

Fractured nightmares filled Severus's mind that night. They snagged on his memories, dragging him from false awakening to false awakening. Unrecognizable voices frenzied through his thoughts. Icy claws tore his fins to ribbons. The black miasma coated his skin, freezing him still before rearing up like a tsunami full of sharp teeth and dead malice ready to devour him whole.

And there, standing between Severus and the wave, would be Harry in his rough sailor clothes, shoulders squared and head held high, a tiny white speck against the black. Severus would reach out, cry out, but his frozen hands were too stiff, too slow, his voice swallowed by the sound of the sea. And every time, as the foul, monstrous wave crested high above their heads, Harry would turn his head and his green eyes would glow like foxfire.

Severus had not slept well.

"… he looks dead," a man's voice filtered through the mind-crushing dark, the words echoing over black waves and frozen limbs.

"He's not dead," another voice said with a sigh, the sound growing sharp and real. "He's still breathing."

"But, he's ice cold. And look at his hair—"

"Yes, thank you for acknowledging the obvious," was the quick, tense interruption. "Go help with the preparations. I'll deal with this." There was another audible sigh and a muttered, "If it isn't one thing, it's another."

Severus rolled his eyes open. The faint sunlight made them ache, as did the sight of the prince's steward leaning over his bed. _Percy_ , he grumbled and tried to sit up.

Percy, the presumptuous oaf, put his hand on Severus's chest. "Stop," he said, pushing Severus back into bed. "You…" His face twisted unexpectedly, his eyebrows pinching close together with something suspiciously like sympathy. "You should rest."

Severus mustered what shreds of patience he still had. _Where's Harry?_ Severus mouthed.

"I think yesterday's adventures have taken their toll on you," Percy continued, staring at something past Severus's shoulder.

Severus took hold of Percy's clothing and pulled the man closer. _Where is Harry?_ , he tried again, shaping the vowels and hissing the 's'.

Percy stared cross-eyed at Severus. "…Harry? Prince Harry's at the east dock, getting ready to sail."

Severus shook Percy without thinking. _And you're letting him?!_ He shoved the steward aside and burst out of the bed, only to fall down onto his hands and knees. His hair tumbled over his eyes. He ran a shaky hand through the strands; the once-black locks were now streaked with pure white.

Percy helped Severus to his feet. "You…" For a fleeting moment, that odd, pitying look returned to his eyes. "You really should go back to bed."

 _And let Harry sail into her hands?_ Severus batted the steward's hands away and swayed to the door. _I need to stop him_. He hurled himself into the hall, nearly falling atop a young maid hustling past with white cloth sheets in her arms.

"Severus, stop," Percy shouted after him. He took hold of Severus's arm and pulled him back. Another servant, his arms full of flowers, darted out of the way, his mouth rounding in shock even as his feet kept moving. "I cannot have you wandering about in your nightshirt. It's indecent." Percy led him back into the room.

 _Do you not care that your prince is mortal danger?_ Severus mouthed, too weak to shrug the man's hand off. _We don't have for indecency—_ His knees buckled as a sharp throb of pain shot through his chest. He sucked in a breath.

Percy guided him back to the bed and sat him down. "You're not going to do anyone any favors by running yourself ragged," he said. "Now, wait here. I'll send someone up to help you dress and bring you something to eat." He ushered himself out.

Severus took another fortifying breath, the pain in his chest lessening enough to allow him to think, and eased back onto his feet. The cold gap inside his chest felt larger than it had the night before, but he was still alive. _Though not for long_ , a vicious little voice in the back of his head whispered as he snuck out into the hallway.

He made his way as quickly as possible to the main entrance and its east dock, his bare feet slapping the floor and the nightshirt flapping against the back of his knees. He wobbled around servants cleaning the hallways and carrying furniture from one end of the house to the other and stepped out onto the east dock.

Tied to the pier was a small galley that had seen better, more prosperous days. Chipped paint decorated the hull and a handful of slots along its side were missing their oars. Sun-browned sailors rushed from one end to the other, hauling crates and tying cargo down. Harry stood on the bow, staring out at the choppy ocean waters, wearing a white and blue suit Severus had never seen before.

Severus stopped at the top of the stairs leading down to the dock and pressed a hand against his chest. The dog looked up from the bottom of the stairs and gave Severus a whine. Someone had sensibly tied the mangy beast to one of the dock bollards. Sirius jerked at the rope, nearly choking itself, and gave another whine.

Severus sidestepped past the dog and gingerly made his way onto the boat. More than one sailor stopped and stared, their gaze raking up from bare feet to thin nightshirt to rapidly whitening hair.

The boat swayed under Severus as agitated waves knocked against it. He wobbled to the side and slumped against a stack of boxes. His nails dug into the gaps in the wood slits as the boat's rocking made his insides roll. A nearby sailor snickered.

"Severus?" Harry dashed towards him only to stop just out of arm's reach. The boy-prince looked strikingly older in his white suit. His hair had been slicked back with wax that reflected the gold on his shoulders. The skin under his eyes was bruised dark, his face taunt and pale but for his cheeks, which burned a bright, feverish shade of red.

Harry gaped at Severus's appearance, his eyes flickering up and down. "You… your hair," he whispered after a breath. "It's turning white."

Severus stretched out and grabbed Harry's gloved hand. He gave Harry a limp tug towards the gangplank, the swaying of the boat doing most of the work as it rocked his body from one foot to the other. _Get off this boat and come back inside_ , he mouthed. _It's not safe._

Harry hissed and pulled his hand away. "You're freezing!" He cupped Severus' hand with both of his own and started rubbing some warmth into the cold skin. "You shouldn't be out here in just your nightshirt."

 _What I am wearing doesn't matter._ Severus rocked towards the house. _I cannot let you sail out there._

Harry did not so much as budge. "I have to go, Severus," he said, his voice barely audible above the sound of the sailors and the splashing of the waves against the ship's hull. He drew closer. "I heard him." Color filled his lips at the confession.

 _Who?_ Severus dug his nails into Harry's skin. _Who did you hear?_

"The man who rescued me," Harry said, his words tumbling out in an airy rush. "I thought I would never hear him again, but I did! And he's out there." He glanced over his shoulder at the stormy seas.

Severus shook Harry's arms. _You're being tricked!_

"He said he was waiting for me. All I have to do is sail out there to meet him," Harry said. "And…" A shyness curled the corners of his mouth. "And thank him."

Severus yanked Harry as hard as his enfeebled body could. _But he's not out there! He's—_ Pain ripped through his chest, knocking the breath out of his lungs. Harry caught him by the shoulders.

They swayed together for a beat. Severus clung onto Harry's shoulders as the fissure in his chest grew wider.

"Captain!" Harry shouted over Severus's bowed head. "Send one of your men for Percy!" He wrapped an arm around Severus's shoulder even as he kept a gap between their bodies. "I don't think you're well enough to come with us." He half-led, half-carried Severus off the ship and down the gangway.

Severus dragged his feet. Harry shouldn't be going at all! He clawed at the prince's clothes, barely gaining a hold on the sash across his chest before Harry hissed from the cold touch and pulled away. At the bottom of the stairs, Sirius bounced to its feet, a faint growl escaping its jowls.

"You too, Sirius," Harry said. "You keep messing with the ship, so you'll have to stay here. Percy!" He nodded at the steward striding towards them. "Severus is too sick to be out here in his nightshirt."

"I know, my Prince, but I left him resting in bed just a minute ago—"

"And could you take Sirius inside and keep him out of the way?" Harry said. He nudged Severus towards Percy, who barely caught Severus in time. "He somehow got it in his head that knocking oars into the water is fun."

"My Prince, don't you think it's unwise of you to go out to sea today? That's a storm brewing out there, and you _do_ remember that His Majesty is on his way?"

Severus pushed himself out of Percy's hands and back on his own two feet. He quickly regretted it as his joints unexpectedly locked up and his head began to spin.

"I remember," Harry replied. "It's just that this is more important." He looked back at the restless seas and started back to the boat.

"How… how can sailing out in this weather, after everything that has happened, be more important than waiting for your father?" Percy said at Harry's back.

The dog pressed its wet nose into Severus's hand before yanking at the rope tied around its neck. Severus slumped against the bollard and gave the twisted knot keeping the dog tethered a loosening tug.

"I won't be gone long," Harry said. "And you'll be here to greet him, right?"

"If you think for one second I'll let you do something so foolish without me—"

"Severus, what are you doing?"

One last tug, and the dog launched itself towards the boat. It raced past Harry and leapt onto the ship. Sailors shouted out and gave chase as the dog ran from one end of the ship to the other, knocking sails, boxes, and men into the water before disappearing belowdecks.

Harry shot Severus a look of disbelief before running after his dog. "Stop him!" he shouted at the sailors running down into the bowels of the ship.

Severus took a stumbling step towards Harry, one hand outstretched, before falling to his knees. The fissure in his chest cracked and throbbed underneath his hand. He fell face-first to the ground, hard, the pain whitening out his vision.

* * *

Severus awoke to the sound of barking and a headache growing between his eyes. He rested his cold, stiff fingers on his eyes, praying for the blasted beast to shut up so that Severus could die in peace.

The boy-prince's people had tucked Severus into a hard, unfamiliar bed. The musty green trimmings hanging above his head were almost black. Severus tossed his pillow at the general direction of the barking. The damn dog silenced for a moment before it continued barking and scratching at the closed door.

Severus crawled out of the bed and slumped his way to the door, only to find it locked. The dog stared up at him with a snide look in its eyes. Severus sneered back and swayed to the room's solitary window. Severus felt his insides twist as he watched the sailors start to undo the ship's moorings.

Severus banged his fist against the window with what little strength he had left.

A redhaired man—Percy?—turned and looked up towards the house. Severus banged harder.

Percy gestured at Harry, pointing to the house before shaking the prince's shoulder.

Harry shrugged Percy's hand away. He looked up at the window and gave Severus a small wave before boarding the ship, a hesitant Percy trailing after him.

Severus banged at the window over and over, even as his arms grew heavy and the fissure in his chest grew sharper and wider. The dog howled right into Severus's ear as they watched the ship sail away.

He gave the glass one last knock before collapsing against the glass, his strength escaping him. He should have stopped Harry. He should have dragged him away, no matter how weakened he had become. His whitening hair tumbled over his shoulders as he covered his eyes.

His death was approaching hard and fast, faster than he had expected when he tore his magic out. He might live long enough to see the sunset, if he was lucky. However, he would still die knowing he failed in stopping Harry from sailing to a malicious trick or, worse, certain death.

As the boat became no more than a speck against the darkening horizon, a cluster of riders galloped into view. The horses rode hard along the side of the house, rearing back as their reached the east pier. They came to a restless stop by the main door, stamping about in circles as a servant ran out to greet them.

One of the riders broke free from the rest and directed his mount towards servant. The dog jumped up and started scratching and barking at the window.

The rider looked up, and Severus felt a shudder run up his spine He took a step back, the sudden shock widening the fissure inside him, and collapsed in the room's sole chair.

Even from a distance, there was no mistaking who the rider was. The resemblance between the boy-prince and the king was uncanny.

The dog let out a relieved little woof and ran to the door to scratch and bark at the wood.

"Sirius!" someone shouted from the other side of the door, which sent the beast into a frenzy. The lock of the door clicked open and the man rushed in, one hand on the hilt of his sword. He kicked the door shut behind him, his attention fully on the dog.

Severus stared at the man's face. Age had weathered and lined his features, but for the wrinkles and the washed-out color of his eyes, there was so much of Harry there. Here was the man that had sired Harry, that had seduced Lily to a life on land. And Severus was too weak to do more than stare.

The man pushed away the overexcited mutt with one hand while reaching inside his dust-covered clothes with the other. "Here." He pulled out a long, thin black stick and dropped it on the floor.

The dog pounced on the stick and shoved its muzzle against its end. Its body blurred as a silent wind ruffled its fur. It rose onto its back paws and shook itself into the form of a large man with long black hair.

The newly transformed dog-man stretched backwards before stumbling forward into the king's arms. "Ow," he said, his voice as rough and grating as his bark. "Give me a second, James? I think I pulled my back." He leaned back, hands on the king's arms as he regained his balance.

"Where's Harry?" James said, gripping Sirius's shoulders so tightly, the fabric of Sirius's thick coat wrinkled under his fingers.

"On a ship." Sirius clasped the king's shoulders in return once before easing himself down to pick up the stick. "Sailing right into his trap. Good thing you came so quickly. We might still have a chance to stop him."

"Wait, whose trap?"

Sirius looked straight into the other man's eyes. "You _know_ who. You brought the Sword. And the Cloak?"

James glanced down at the sword sheathed at his side. "Of course, but— Sirius, are you sure?"

"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have sent you that message," Sirius replied. "Do you know how hard it is to put inky paw prints on Percy's letters to you? It took me a week to get that message out." He placed a heavy hand on James's shoulder. "Trust me, I smelled his foul magic on Harry's birthday. I've been smelling it for days. Now, hold on and let's see if I can't Apparate us onto that ship—"

Severus rose to his feet. James let out a little gasp and grabbed the hilt of his sword. "Who are you!"

Sirius placed his hand on top of the sword hilt's red pummel, stopping him. "He's a mermaid." Severus sneered, making Severus's hackles rising. "Harry's mermaid, actually."

James stared at Severus. "Doesn't look like much of a mermaid."

_That's because I'm a merman!_

"He's dying," Sirius said. He gave Severus a heavy-browed look. "I'm guessing you want to come with us?"

Severus took a step forward, even as his joints stiffened and the cold in his chest grew worse.

Sirius's lips curled, showing too much sharp teeth. He took hold of Severus's wrist and yanked.

* * *

For one intensely long moment, Severus felt as if every single part of his body had been stretched, from his wrist in Sirius's hand down to his feet and hair, to the point of snapping completely apart. The moment ended with a pop, and he found himself high up in the air, dropping out of the sky and into the icy, dark waters of the ocean.

He fell feet first, the sudden crash into the water knocking Sirius's hold on him. Water rushed into his nose as he struggled to right himself and swim back up to the surface.

His legs kicked and his arms flailed, doing little more than churning the water around him. The buoyancy, the finesse, the _ease_ he had known all his life was _gone_ , torn out of him along with his magic. Panic filled him as his lungs burned for air.

His head broke the surface and he gasped hard for breath. James was some distance away, shouting, "Sirius!" over and over, his voice barely audible above the sounds of the choppy seas and the screams.

Harry's ship sat dead in the water, knocked from side to side by the waves and backlit by the setting sun. People were climbing up the sides of the ship only to be tossed overboard and forced to climb back up. Sharks circled the ship, their dorsal fins cutting the surface. Screams and shouts echoed off the waves.

"James!" came Sirius's answering cry from behind them. "Come on!" He started swimming towards the ship, face in the water, arms and legs furiously splashing water in his wake. James dove and moved swiftly to join him.

Severus kicked and flailed to catch up, but his body, already struggling, was not used to swimming as a human would. His arms and legs grew heavy with exhaustion.

As he floated closer to the boat, something grabbed hold of his ankle and pulled him underwater. Air bubbled out of his mouth and the sea water burned his eyes. He kicked at the hand dragging him down.

"I'm not letting you on that ship," Draco said, his white face looming into view. "You're not foiling her plans again!"

Severus clawed weakly at the merboy's face. He pressed his lips tight, desperate to keep what air he had left in his lungs, but the press of the ocean waters was growing too much to endure. Bubbles escaped from the corners of his mouth.

A great white shark dove straight at them, its mouth open wide. It snapped at Draco, nearly catching the merboy's tail with its many teeth. With a yelp, Draco let go of Severus's ankle and frantically swam away, glancing once over his shoulder before diving down to the ocean floor.

Severus wiggled, searching for the surface, his body too tired to even flail ineffectually, when the shark returned. It pressed its nose against the small of Severus's back and nudged him up to the surface.

Severus gasped and floundered for air as the shark swam to his side. It gave Severus's belly a gentle slap with its fin.

 _Krum!_ A fierce swell of joy filled Severus's heart. He struggled to keep afloat long enough to run a hand over the shark's nose. _You… you came for me._

Krum pulled itself closer, curling its body around Severus. Severus clung to Krum's dorsal fin and gave the shark a pat before pointing towards the ship.

With a flick of its tail, Krum took off for the ship. Severus could only hold on and keep his body as straight as possible as they cut through the water, overtaking both Sirius and James without a second glance. As they got closer, Severus felt bile churn in his stomach. Those were the sea witch's victims, the dead and dying bodies that had lined her cave and powered her magic, attacking the ship. They crawled up the hull, their decomposing bodies not stopping in their assault even as they're being torn apart by the sharks and tossed off the ship by the ship's crew.

Krum swam up alongside the ship, keeping some distance between themselves and the carnage taking place in the water. Severus gave the shark's nose one last affectionate rub before reaching up for the closest oarhole. He hauled himself up, his arms shaking as he all but pulled himself up by sheer force of will to roll over the railing and onto the deck.

The ship was in chaos. The sailors were swinging swords and clubs at the wet, dead-eyed invaders, cutting one down only to retreat as two more ambled forward to take its place. The sea witch's animated corpses took hit after hit only to stumble onward, their hands outstretched and their feet tripping over the bodies.

Harry stood in the center of the deck, a sword in one hand and a lit torch in the other. Percy, shaking but armed, stood back to back with the boy-prince and kept the invading masses at bay. Their clothing were splattered with blood. A red streak ran down the side of Harry's face.

Severus lunged towards Harry, his feet slipping on the wet deck. One of the witch's corpses wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him back towards the railing.

"Severus? Severus!" Harry ran towards him, torch held high, when a mighty boom shook the ship.

Silence crashed down on the deck as the living looked around. "An explosion?" one man whispered.

"Look!" shouted another, pointing to the north.

Black, fast-moving fog, nearly twice the width of the ship and three times its height, was rolling straight for them. The walking corpses slumped into stillness, their vacant eyes fixed on the fog.

Severus shoved his assailant aside and launched himself at Harry. He pulled the boy-prince into his arms just as the fog swept onto the ship, plunging them in absolute darkness.

He held Harry tight as harsh winds whipped his hair into his eyes and filled his nostrils with the overpowering smell of death. Harry burned hot against his skin, the sword pressed flat against Severus's back. _Don't let go_ , he pleaded. He could feel Harry's mouth against his neck, but Harry's words were lost in the roar.

The fog pulled in on itself and began to spin itself into a column at the front of the ship, pulling everything on board towards it, before bursting apart with one last blast of putrid-smelling air. In its wake stood a person in black clothes with stretched-out limbs and the white skin of a drowned corpse. Her hair fell flat and gray, the ends just touching the corners of her wide mouth.

Severus's grip on Harry tightened. _Dolores?_

If it was Dolores, then within the last three days, the sea witch had twisted her form into something monstrous and nearly unrecognizable. Only the jeweled locket glowing in the hollow of her throat was unchanged.

She stretched her elongated arms. "Ah," the mutation breathed, her voice low and deep and _Severus's_ , surveying the frozen tableau before her. She focused her blood-red eyes on Severus and Harry. "Prince Harry. My, how you have grown. And…" She touched her bloodless mouth with the tip of her finger. "Severus. Did you do something with your hair?"

Harry stepped out of Severus's arms. "That voice… you're the man that rescued me." He squinted at her. "Aren't you?"

She flicked her wrist, drawing a thin stick seemingly out of thin air. "You have me confused with someone else." She pointed the stick at Harry.

Severus pushed Harry behind him as Dolores flicked her stick. Light flashed from the tip and Severus felt invisible hands grab him by the arms and leg. The sea-witch's magic yank him off of his feet to fall face-first at her feet.

"Severus!"

Moans rose all around as the walking corpses around them.

Dolores pointed her finger at Harry. "Stay," she said in Severus's rumbling voice. She grabbed a handful of Severus's hair and pulled, forcing Severus's head up. She pressed the tip of her stick against Severus's temple. "Look at him," she said to Harry. "All hollowed out. No magic, no voice… Not much time left, is there." Her grip on Severus's hair tightened. The tip of the stick dug into his cheek. "I should put him out of his misery," she hissed.

"Who are you?" Harry said, his body trembling and his face white.

"Do you not recognize me?" she said. "No, how could you, with me in this," she waved a hand down her front, "shell and you only a babe when we first met." She straightened to her full height, dragging Severus up onto his knees. "When I killed your mother."

"Princess Lily wasn't murdered," Percy said. "She fell from the cliffs!"

"That is a lie." She threw Severus aside, sending him tumbling towards the railing. "She might have fallen off the cliffs, but it was I who took her life!" She drew her shoulders back. The light of the setting sun cut across her face, sharpening her stretched features to something gaunt and hungry. "I, Lord Voldemort!"

She raised the stick in her hand. "Come here," she said, Severus's voice crunching the words into gravel. Harry's right foot jerked forward. "Yes," she hissed as Harry's left foot followed suit, his sword slipping out of his hand to fall onto the deck. "Very good, little prince."

"No," Harry said, jaw clenched and eyes narrowed, even as he took another step. His teeth bit hard into his lower lip.

"You have no choice," Lord Voldemort said, her lips stretching wide. She reached out with her free hand. "Now give me your hand."

Blood trickled from Harry's mouth and tears from his eyes. His arm jerked and shook, but rose. HIs fingers grazed against Voldemort's.

A beam of light slammed into Voldemort's face, staggering the abomination back. Harry's knees buckled and he staggered back, released by the invisible bonds that had compelled him forward.

"Get away from my godson!" Sirius roared as he strode onto the deck, soaked to the bone and his own stick held tightly in his hand.

Voldemort straightened. Blood streamed down from her left eye. "Sirius Black," she said. She smeared the blood off with the back of her hand. "So eager to join your brother?"

She flicked her stick at Sirius, sending a jolt of green light at him. Sirius dove out of its path, crashing against one of the walking corpses. Smashing an elbow into the corpse's face, he brandished his own stick and shot a sickly yellow beam back.

Voldemort swatted the yellow beam aside with her stick. A laugh rumbled out her as she swung her arm and shot another bolt of light at Sirius.

Severus took hold of the railing and pulled himself to his feet, keeping his head low. Harry was already in motion, rushing backwards towards his steward with head ducked close to his chest. He stooped to grab his forgotten sword and swung the reclaimed weapon up and into the walking corpse attacking Percy.

"You really believe you can defeat me, Black?" Voldemort said, flicking away yet another of Sirius's spells. "I, who conquered death!"

Sirius's response was a nasty growl from the back of his throat as he shot another blast of light at the abomination.

"A pus hex?" Voldemort cackled, swatting the hex away. "Are you trying to insult me?"

"No," Sirius said, a self-satisfied twist to his lips as he spoke. "I'm trying to distract you."

The last rays of the sun glinted off silver as a long blade appeared out of thin air just behind the abomination. In an upward thrust, it drove through Voldemort from lower back to sternum. Her back arched and blood gurgled out of her mouth.

Behind her stood Harry's father, both hands on the hilt of the silver sword as a cloak dropped off his shoulders in a soggy plop.

Voldemort gurgled a laugh. "You Blacks and your treachery," she said, her features twisting in new, viciously grotesque shapes. "Oh, and if it isn't the king himself."

"Father!" Harry shouted, Percy's hand on his arm holding him back.

"Now!" he shouted over Voldemort's shoulder.

Sirius attacked, lobbing a ball of red light at Voldemort.

But Voldemort was faster, the sword embedded in her and the blood steadily dripping on the deck not slowing her down as she deflected Sirius's attack. She elbowed James in the face, shaking his hand off the hilt. With a flick of her stick, she flung the king at Sirius, knocking both men down.

Severus braced himself against the railing, his eyes on the golden locket hanging from Voldemort's neck. With every syllable the abomination spoke, the green gems on the locket would glow bright.

Voldemort straightened to her full, mutilated height. "Patheti—oof!"

Severus hurled himself at the abomination, knocking the breath out of her. His fingers grasped at the glowing locket, wrapping themselves in the thin chain, and tucked.

Voldemort shoved Severus off in disgust, and he fell onto the deck, the locket burning in his hand. He sneered as she felt around her neck, realizing what he had just done.

"You!" she screamed, her voice no longer deep and stolen but high and cold. "We should have killed you when we had the chance!"

Severus let out a huff of a laugh. His hand had too weak a grip on the locket. His heart was beating much too slowly. But just beyond the abomination's head, the sky was filling with a blinding, golden light. All around them, the witch's thralls were moaning as if in pain.

The White King had come.

Voldemort looked toward the bow and began to slowly retreat.

"What is that?" someone said, too frightened to speak any louder than a whisper.

"The White King," Severus said as Albus rose from the waves to tower over the ship, the clouds, the very moon itself. The Trident, golden and frightening, shone in the twilight like a young sun.

Albus spoke, his voice rumbling like thunder and his hair as white as lightning. "So this is who has been poisoning my waters and weaving death magic into my domain." He lowered the Trident, aiming the three prongs at the ship.

Severus's heart pounded hard against his chest as it tried and failed to deal with the sudden rush of fear filling his veins. "Trident, spare me," he whispered as the Trident's glow grew brighter and hotter. Tears filled his eyes, whether from the light or from terror, he could not say.

"Severus!" Harry shouted, his voice thin to Severus's ears. He was there, pulling Severus into the safety of his arms, but there was nowhere to hide, not from the Trident.

Harry's features were blurry through the tears. Severus stared into the boy-prince's eyes until the Trident's light washed everything in white and the last drop of life within him dried away.

<hr>

Harry stared up at the giant looming over the ship, frozen in shock and fear. It looked like a man, with fish-white skin and hair, but its blue eyes held terrifying power, like a storm over treacherous seas. In its hand was a gigantic golden trident unlike any Harry had ever seen, hanging over them like a scythe.

"What is that?" Percy whispered behind him.

"The White King," said a rumbling voice, tired and roughened from ill use. Harry glanced at the monster that had attacked them, slowly backing away from the glowing trident over their heads, but no, he wasn't the one who had spoken.

Severus lay sprawled out on the deck, the evil wizard's locket still tangled up around his hand. A soft whimper escaped his lips as he stared, wide-eyed, at the trident.

The giant above them opened its mouth, but instead of words, it screeched out a string of harsh, raspy sounds in a voice as loud and piercing as thunder. Harry ducked and covered his ears against the sound.

The trident above their heads began to glow hot and bright. Harry felt a hum vibrate through his body as the giant pointed the trident at them all.

"Severus!" Harry shouted over the roar in his ears. He fell to his knees beside Severus and pulled at the man's arms. He needed to get them to safety. Severus was dead weight, muttering raspy nonsense and staring tearfully up at Harry as the light coming off the trident grew brighter and hotter.

"Cover your eyes!" the dark-haired wizard shouted. "Cover your eyes!"

Harry covered Severus's body with his own and hid his face in Severus's neck as the white light shone brighter and brighter. His eyes hurt from its intensity, even as his body grew pliant and soft, its heat like that of a hot bath, soothing away aches Harry didn't realize he felt.

High-pitched screams filled the air. Underneath him, Severus whimpered once and fell silent.

As the light dimmed, Harry wiped the streaming tears out of his eyes and lifted his head. The giant lifted its trident away, and the wizard that called himself "Lord Voldemort" lay on his stomach some distance away, naked but for scraps of fish scales stuck to his burned skin.

The sailors staggered to their feet, edging away from the dead bodies sprawled on the deck. One or two of the invaders slowly rose to their feet as well, holding their heads like dazed fighters, disoriented and lost, but the rest lay as dead as their master, their skin scorched black.

"My Prince," Percy said, kneeling down beside Harry. "Are you alright?"

"Severus," Harry said, turning his attentions to the unconscious man in his arms. He patted Severus's warmed cheek. "Come on, wake up."

Percy wrapped his fingers around Severus's wrist and rested his other hand over Severus's chest. "I don't feel a heartbeat," he said softly.

"No," Harry said. He lowered his ear to Severus's nose. He could not feel Severus's breath against his skin. "No."

"Harry," his father said from somewhere behind his shoulder. "He's gone."

The giant lifted its free hand, causing the boat to sway. Standing on his palm was a dark-haired woman in a blue dress.

"He's not dead," she said as she slid off the giant's palm and onto the deck. "As least not yet."

"You're the woman from the village," Harry said as she came closer. "The one that attacked us."

She knelt at Severus's other side. "I was mistaken," she said. She glared at the wizard that had come aboard with Father. "Dog."

"Cat," the wizard growled back.

From the folds of her dress, she took out a large clamshell. "We don't have much time." She pried it open. Inside was a small iridescent ball of light.

"What is that?" Percy breathed.

"Severus's magic," she said, tipping the clamshell over Severus's chest. The ball rolled out and floated down, melting into Severus's chest. Its iridescence spread out, making Severus's skin shimmer, before fading away.

Harry waited with bated breath for some sort of reaction. The woman muttered foreign-sounding words underneath her breath, over and over, a frustrated litany, as she covered the locket in Severus's burned hand with both hands. The giant looming above them murmured, giving the ship a tiny shake. Severus did not so much as twitch.

"I think he's gone," Percy said.

"No, he's still alive, I know it," Harry said. "He's still alive," he prayed, cupping Severus's cheek. Was that a flutter of a heartbeat he felt?

A half-crazed thought crossed Harry's mind. He lowered his head and pressed his lips against Severus's, tasting the blood and sea-salt on the man's mouth. His lips gently parted underneath Harry's, and breath brushed hot against his tongue.

Harry drew back. Tears gathered at the corner of his eyes as Severus's lashes began to flutter.

"Was that…" Severus said, his voice a dark rumble that send a shiver up Harry's spine. He opened his black eyes and looked up at Harry. "Did you kiss me?"

"I—" Harry sniffed, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. "You, uh… Yes?"

Severus looped his arm around Harry's neck, pulling him down. For a moment, Harry saw a smile form on the man's face before Severus captured Harry's mouth with his own and returned the favor.


	7. An Epilogue

EPILOGUE

The living worked in teams of five, two to haul the bodies aboard, two to lay them out on the deck for the return trip, and one to hold the lamp steady. Most of the bodies were strangers, mangled and half-eaten, the work punctuated with the sound of sobs and retching. But Fraser was still breathing when they pulled him out, so they kept going.

Dixon stretched out and hooked the curved end of the boat hook around the ankle of another body, a shirtless boy with pale hair. As he and Reed pulled him in, the boy blinked slowly, his grey eyes staring listlessly at the light shining from Moore's lamp.

"Is he alive?" Moore said.

"He's alive," Reed said, a mirthless smile exposing the gaps in his grin. They lifted the boy's dead weight up. The Green brothers reached down and dragged the boy up onto the deck.

"Draco? Draco!" One of the strangers, a tall blonde woman holding the lamp for Bennett's team, dashed to the shirtless boy's side. She cradled the boy's face in her hands.

The boy's eyes slowly focused on the woman's face. "Mum?"

A choked cry escaped the woman as she pulled the boy into her arms.

"Mum, I'm sorry," the boy sobbed into his mother's chest.

She smoothed the boy's hair and pressed a kiss against his temple.

A man with pale blond hair staggered to them, a broken look in his eyes as he fell to his knees. She looked at the man over her son's head, tears glistening in her eyes.

He wrapped his arms around them both and pulled them into an embrace so tight, no man or magic could break it.

* * *

Lily's portrait looked no better in the sunlight than it did in candlelight, Severus mused, his fingers ghosting along the edge of her painted dress. The blush on her cheek looked warm enough to touch; the green of her eyes almost sparkled in the natural light. But it was a poor substitute for the real thing.

Minerva meowed from the doorway, her tail held high in the air.

"Use your words, Minerva," he said.

She meowed again and ran off. Severus sighed and followed.

A week of forced bed rest had not been enough to restore Severus's strength. It certainly wasn't enough to restore the color to his whitened hair. As he trailed after Minerva, he could feel his strength flagging. His steps slowed as they reached the shoreline, his feet dragged in the sand they reached a secluded spot far from the house.

Minerva jumped up the rocks and dove paws first into the waters. Severus toed off his shoes and made his way into the cold waters after her.

She surfaced in her true form and watched as he waded out to meet her. "You should have taken off your clothes as well," she said.

He stopped in the waist deep waters. "Is a cat teaching me how to be more human?"

She scowled. "Be careful, or you'll find a going-away present in your shoes tomorrow."

The waters around them began to glow. "Albus," Severus moaned, "you shouldn't have—"

"Come to say goodbye?" Albus said as he surfaced beside Minerva. He stared up at the bright blue sky. "My, it's bright out here. I think I can smell my skin burning."

"Albus—"

"Minerva said you're leaving tomorrow."

Severus nodded. "We're riding out to a place called Godric's Hollow in the morning." He looked down at the water, at the way his clothes floated up and swayed with the currents. "Harry pointed it out to me on a map the other day. It's… quite far from the ocean."

As Harry traced the lines that marked out the high mountains and thin rivers surrounding his father's home, Severus had felt anxiety grip his heart. Could a merman live so far from the waters of his birth? Could he?

Albus touched Severus's shoulder, grounding him. "Consider it an adventure," he said, his eyes twinkling. "How is Harry?"

"Harry? He's…" Severus trailed off as he thought of the young prince. Harry had stayed at his bedside for days, keeping him company as he recovered. They talked, and touched, and Severus could feel the smile forming on his face. "He's great."

"That's… unnerving," Minerva said.

"I think it's sweet," Albus reassured him. "And his father?"

The smile fell from Severus's face. "That man," he said with a sneer, "and his _dog_ are two of _the_ most arrogant men I've ever met in my _life_."

Minerva smirked. "You should know."

"What are you implying?"

"Severus!" he heard Harry calling out from the house. "Are you out here?"

Albus smiled. "It sounds like we should be going," he said. He lifted a sack from the water and held it out to Severus. "A going-present."

Severus took the sack and peeked inside. "Is this—?"

"Your tail," Albus said softly as Severus pulled out a cloak made from fish scales. "At least, what was left of it. As is it, it won't help you return, but perhaps one day, you'll find a way."

Severus pressed the cloak against his face, his eyes burning with tears.

"There's a few other things in there," Albus went on. "A tooth from that shark friend of yours—"

"A few things from your grotto," Minerva added.

"And one last thing." Albus reached inside his thick beard and pulled out a small sea snail shell tied with sinew. Even in the sunlight, it glowed as bright as a young sun.

Severus's heart began to beat hard against his chest. "A Shard? Albus, no, I can't—"

Albus placed the shell in the palm of Severus's hand before covering it with his own. "Just in case." He gathered Severus up in his arms and hugged him tight. "Take care of him," he murmured into Severus's ear. "And yourself." He gave Severus's back a hearty clap before diving away. Minerva nodded once at Severus, a suspicious shine in her eyes, before following the White King down into the depths.

Severus clutched the gifts close to his chest. In the distance, he could see Krum's dorsal fin break the surface before it, too, disappeared underneath the waves. He wiped the moisture from his eyes.

"Severus, what are you doing out there?" Harry cried out from the shore.

"Saying my goodbyes," Severus said as he waded back to shore.

Harry's brow furrowed as a melancholy look crossed his features. "Maybe I should talk to my father into letting us stay here, close to the ocean. So you don't have to say goodbye."

Severus gave the furrowed lines a kiss. "After you talked about your home for days?" Harry continued to frown. "I will always have to say goodbye to the sea." He took hold of Harry's hand, entwining their fingers.

Harry stared down at their hands. "What's that?" he said, looking at the glowing shell trapped between their palms.

"Something to protect," Severus said. He placed a kiss on Harry's wrist and another on his lips.

Harry's eyes shone bright as he kissed Severus back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who gave this story a chance. I hope that you enjoyed it.
> 
> If you're interested, check out some ~~really bad artwork~~ story-related doodles I posted on [tumblr](http://babygray-dam.tumblr.com/tagged/the-prince-and-the-merman).


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